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Environmental Sciences Division Publications: 2001
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This page lists publication titles, citations and abstracts produced by NERL's Environmental Sciences Division for the year 2001, organized by Publication Type. Your search has returned
140 Matching Entries.
See also Environmental Sciences Division citations with abstracts:
1999,
2000,
2001,
2002,
2003,
2004,
2005,
2006,
2007,
2008
Technical Information Manager: Chris Sibert - (702) 798-2234 or sibert.christopher@epa.gov
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Presented/Published |
| BOOK CHAPTER |
Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition to Coastal Estuaries and Their Watersheds |
02/12/2001
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Meyers, T. P., J. E. Sickles II, R. L. Dennis, K. Russe II, J. N. Galloway, AND T. Church. Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition to Coastal Estuaries and Their Watersheds. First Assessment of Nitrogen Loads to U.S. Coastal Waters with an Atmospheric Perspective. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 53-76, (2001).
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| BOOK CHAPTER |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Overarching Issues and Overview |
08/24/2001
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Daughton, C. G. AND T. A. Ternes. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Overarching Issues and Overview. , Daughton, C.G. and Jones-Lepp, T. (ed.), Environment - Scientific and Regulatory Issues. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 2-38, (2001).
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While the point-source emissions of pollutants from manufacturing waste streams have long been monitored and subject to controls, the environmental impact of the public's (i.e., the individual's) activities regarding the use of chemicals is more difficult to assess. Of particular question is the widespread release to sewage and surface/ground waters of pharmaceuticals and personal care products after their ingestion, external application, or disposal. Certain pharmaceutically active compounds (e.g., caffeine, nicotine, and aspirin) have been known for over 20 years to enter the environment by a variety of routes - primarily via treated and untreated sewage effluent. A larger picture, however, has emerged only more recently, where it is evident that numerous personal care products (such as fragrances and sunscreens) and drugs from a wide spectrum of therapeutic classes can occur in the environment and drinking water (albeit at very low concentrations), especially in natural waters receiving sewage. Nearly all ecological monitoring studies for pharmaceuticals and personal care products (informally referred to as "PPCPS" - see Daughton and Ternes 1999) to date have been performed in Europe.
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| BOOK CHAPTER |
Llicit Drugs in Municipal Sewage Proposed New Non-Intrusive Tool to Heighten Public Awareness of Societal Use of Illicit/Abused Drugs and Their Potential for Ecological Consequences |
09/25/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Llicit Drugs in Municipal Sewage Proposed New Non-Intrusive Tool to Heighten Public Awareness of Societal Use of Illicit/Abused Drugs and Their Potential for Ecological Consequences. , Daughton, C.G. and Jones-Lepp, T. (ed.), Environment - Scientific and Regulatory Issues. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 348-364, (2001).
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Even though a body of data on the environmental occurrence of medicinal, government-approved ("ethical") pharmaceuticals has been growing over the last two decades (the subject of this book), nearly nothing is known about the disposition of illicit (illegal) drugs in the environment. Whether illicit drugs are similarly discharged to and survive in the environment (as discussed for medicinal drugs in the previous chapters of this book), and if so, whether they have adverse effects on native biota, is completely unknown. Regardless, with the newly acquired interest of environmental chemists in monitoring for medicinal drugs in environmental samples, science is now afforded the rare opportunity to simultaneously advance the understanding of a process (i.e., the inadvertent discharge of illicit drugs to the environment via their purposeful use) and to also have the ability to impact public discourse and social policy on a highly controversial subject - namely, the pervasive manufacture, trade, and use of illegal drugs and abused controlled substances.
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| BOOK CHAPTER |
Preface to: "PHARMACEUTICALS and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Scientific and Regulatory Issues" |
08/02/2001
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Daughton, C. G. AND T. JonesLepp. Preface to: "PHARMACEUTICALS and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Scientific and Regulatory Issues". , Symposium Series 791., Chemistry. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 416, (2001).
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Often overlooked in our daily lives are the inescapable, intimate, and immediate connections between our personal activities and the environment in which we live. This is especially true with regard to the use and disposal of consumer chemicals. A significant aspect of our global society that illustrates the potential impact of our lives on the environment is the widespread and escalating use of pharmaceuticals and personal care products - simply referred to as PPCPS. Many of these chemicals are specifically designed to elicit potent pharmacological or toxicological effects. In distinct contrast to nearly all agro/industrial chemicals, which are often used on large, relatively confined scales, the end use for PPCPs is highly dispersed and centered around the activities and actions of the individual. PPCPs enjoy worldwide usage and attendant discharge or inadvertent release to the environment. Their introduction to the environment has no geographic boundaries or climatic-use limitations as do many other synthetic chemicals - they are discharged to the environment wherever people live or visit, regardless of the time of year.
It is difficult for the individual to perceive their small-scale activities as having any measurable impact on the larger environment - personal actions are often deemed minuscule or inconsequential in the larger scheme. Yet it is the combined actions and activities of individuals that indeed can significantly impact the environment in a myriad of ways. The personal, individual ingestion/application ofchemicals from this very large, diverse group of biologically active substances (and their metabolic/transformation products) leads to their direct and indirect worldwide discharge to the environment through sewage treatment systems (indirectly from exereta and directly via disposal or washing) and from other sources such as terrestrial runoff/leaching from excreta of medicated domestic animals (including pets) and landfills.
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| BOOK CHAPTER |
Acid Rain Modeling |
12/16/2001
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Holland, D. M. Acid Rain Modeling. , Encyclopedia of Environmetrics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, Uk, (2001).
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This paper provides an overview of existing statistical methodologies for the estimation of site-specific and regional trends in wet deposition. The interaction of atmospheric processes and emissions tend to produce wet deposition data patterns that show large spatial and temporal variability. We conclude that a number of approaches are useful for trend estimation, but no one method is appropriate for all purposes.
Tile reliable estimation of temporal trends in acidic deposition is an important concern to environmental managers for evaluating the effectiveness of legislated emission control Programs, Acidic compounds are formed in the atmosphere by the oxidation of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted to the atmosphere from both natural and anthropogenic sources- Acidic compounds and their precursors can reside in the atmosphere for many days and undergo long-range transport bcfore returning to earth in precipitation. Acid deposition compounds in the atmosphere have deleterious effects on both visibility and natural ecosystems.
Since the beginning of the 1980's, S02 emissions have been decreasing in both Europe and North America. Although a net decrease between 1980 and 1997 could be found in both regions, the magnitude and form of the decreases are quite different. It has been estimated that S02 emissions in Europe have been decreasing steadily since 1980 (Mylona, 1999) with the 1997 estimated emissions representing about 45% of the 1980 level. In the U.S., S02 emissions remained constant during most of the 1980's except for a net decrease in the beginning of the decade. Emissions decreased during to beginning of the 1990's reaching a minimum in 1995 (representing about 70% of the 1980 emissions based on Lynch et at, 2000). The sudden emission reduction observed in 1994-1995 is believed to be the consequence of the implementation of Phase I of the Acid Rain Program established bv Title IX of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act in the United States.
To determine whether emission reductions have had the intended effect of reducing wet deposition, measurement data can be statistically modeled to reveal the magnitude and spatial distribution of reductions in wet deposition. Previous studies show that the estimation of emission-related trend requires statistical techniques that account for the sources of variability underlying the wet deposition such as seasonal changes and precipitation amounts. Certainly these effects can vary from site to site, As environmental decisions are Often based on the results of trend analyses, achieving the most accurate and precise site-specific and regional trend estimates in the shortest possible
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| BOOK CHAPTER |
Accuracy Assessments of Airborne Hysperspectral Data for Mapping Opportunistic Plant Species in Freshwater Coastal Wetlands |
12/11/2001
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Lopez, R. D., C. M. Edmonds, A. C. Neale, E. T. Slonecker, K. B. Jones, D. T. Heggem, J. G. Lyon, E. Jaworski, D. Garofalo, AND D. J. Williams. Accuracy Assessments of Airborne Hysperspectral Data for Mapping Opportunistic Plant Species in Freshwater Coastal Wetlands. , Chapter 18, Ross S. Lunetta, John G. Lyon (ed.), Remote Sensing and GIS Accuracy Assessment. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, 253-267, (2003).
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Airbome hyperspectral data were used to detect dense patches of Phragmites australis, a native opportunist plant species, at the Pointe Mouillee coastal wetland complex (Wayne and Monroe Counties, Michigan). This study provides initial results from one of thirteen coastal wetlands, field-sampled during Summer, 2001. Initial results are from airborne hyperspectral (PROBE-1) data acquisition and the data processing procedures that were performed in conjunction with wetland field sampling in two patches of Phragmites australis at Pointe Mouillee. The spread of Phragmites australis and other opportunistic plant species throughout the landscape is of concern to natural resource managers because it poses a threat to the biological diversity of wetlands. Research suggests that the establishment and expansion of such invasive and aggressive plant species may be the result of general ecosystem stresses. Thus, Phragmites australis may be an indicator of wetland condition. We used PROBE- I data as a first step in the semi-automated process of mapping the presence of Phragmites australis and its percent cover within large homogeneous patches, typical of some Great Lakes coastal wetlands. We discuss the results of this study in the context of long-term project goals of determining ecological relationships between: (1) landscape disturbances in the vicinity of wetlands; and (2) the presence and distribution of Phragmites australis within wetlands.
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| COMMUNICATION PRODUCT |
Developing Landscape Indicator Models for Pesticides and Nutrients in Streams of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain |
04/22/2001
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Ator, S. W., J. M. Denver, AND A. M. Pitchford. Developing Landscape Indicator Models for Pesticides and Nutrients in Streams of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/F-01/027, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| EPA PUBLISHED PROCEEDINGS |
Laboratory Misconduct What Can Happen to You? |
03/19/2001
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Brilis, G. M. Laboratory Misconduct What Can Happen to You? Association of Environmental Health Sciences and US Navy Eleventh Annual West Coast Conference, San Diego, CA, March 19-22, 2001. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/A-02/054 (NTIS PB2003-106594).
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Contracted laboratories perform a vast number of routine and special analytical services that are the foundation of decisions upon which rests the fate of the environment. Guiding these laboratories in the generation of environmental data has been the analytical protocols and the quality assurance/quality control criteria delineated in the contract. Key elements are the objective and accurate reporting of data accumulated in the course of these analyses to assure valid results. In addition, basic and universally accepted standards of conduct and propriety, when followed, not only assure the integrity of the analytical results, but engender public support for, and lend credibility to, the U.S. EPA and the scientific community as a whole.
However, violations of these principles by a number of laboratories have received wide attention and may undermine the environment in ways that go far beyond the waste of public funds. Although a relatively uncommon event in the scientific community, violations of accepted ethical standards inevitably appear in the scientific community as in all human pursuits. The EPA has a major responsibility, not only to provide an atmosphere that promotes integrity, but also to contribute to the establishment and enforcement of policies and procedures that deal efficiently and effectively with allegations/indicators or evidence of scientific misconduct.
In dealing with this problem, it is important to maintain an ambience of openness and creativity. Positive scientific progress cannot flourish in an atmosphere of oppressive regulation. Moreover, it is imperative to distinguish misconduct from the honest error and the ambiguities of interpretation that are inherent in the analytical process and which may be rectified.
The presentation discusses the criminal, civil and administrative actions that can be taken against the those who were found to have committed science misconduct. It is the authors' hope that this presentation will serve to enlighten scientists and managers and drive them to develop policies and procedures to prevent and deter scientific misconduct.
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| EPA PUBLISHED PROCEEDINGS |
Science Misconduct Activities in Environmental Analysis Fraud Detection in Gc/MS/ICP Activities |
03/19/2001
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Brilis, G. M. Science Misconduct Activities in Environmental Analysis Fraud Detection in Gc/MS/ICP Activities. Association of Environmental Health Sciences and US Navy Eleventh Annual West Coast Conference, San Diego, CA, March 19-22, 2001. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/A-02/055 (NTIS PB2003-106596).
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Contracted laboratories perform a vast number of routine and special analytical services that are the foundation of decisions upon which rests the fate of the environment. Guiding these laboratories in the generation of environmental data has been the analytical protocols and the quality assurance/quality control criteria delineated in the contract. Key elements are the objective and accurate reporting of data accumulated in the course of these analyses to assure valid results. In addition, basic and universally accepted standards of conduct and propriety, when followed, not only assure the integrity of the analytical results, but engender public support for, and lend credibility to, the U.S. EPA and the scientific community as a whole.
However, violations of these principles by a number of laboratories have received wide attention and may undermine the environment in ways that go far beyond the waste of public funds. Although a relatively uncommon event in the scientific community, violations of accepted ethical standards inevitably appear in the scientific community as in all human pursuits. The EPA has a major responsibility, not only to provide an atmosphere that promotes integrity, but also to contribute to the establishment and enforcement of policies and procedures that deal efficiently and effectively with allegations/indicators or evidence of scientific misconduct.
In dealing with this problem, it is important to maintain an ambience of openness and creativity. Positive scientific progress cannot flourish in an atmosphere of oppressive regulation. Moreover, it is imperative to distinguish misconduct from the honest error and the ambiguities of interpretation that are inherent in the analytical process and which may be rectified.
The presentation discusses the common type of scientific misconduct that has been detected over the years that EPA has been reforming QA/QC reviews. It is the authors' hope that this presentation will serve to enlighten scientists and managers and drive them to develop policies and procedures to prevent and deter scientific misconduct.
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| JOURNAL |
Thematic Accuracy of Mrlc Land Cover for the Eastern United States |
09/25/2001
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Yang, L., S. V. Stehman, J. H. Smith, AND J. D. Wickham. Thematic Accuracy of Mrlc Land Cover for the Eastern United States. REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT 76(3):418-422, (2001).
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One objective of the MultiResolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) consortium is to map general land-cover categories for the conterminous United States using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. Land-cover mapping and classification accuracy assessment are complete for the eastern United States. The accuracy assessment was based on photo-interpreted reference data obtained from a stratified probability sample of pixels. Agreement was defined as a match between primary or alternate reference land-cover labels assigned to each sample pixel and the mode (most common class) of the map's land-cover labels within a 3 x 3-pixel neighborhood surrounding the sampled point. At 30-m resolution, overall accuracy was 59.7% at an Anderson Level 11 thematic detail, and 80.5% at Anderson Level 1. 0 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
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| JOURNAL |
Predicting Nutrient and Sediment Loadings to Streams from Landscape Metrics: A Multiple Watershed Study from the United States Mid-Atlantic Region |
07/11/2001
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Jones, K. B., A. C. Neale, M. S. Nash, R. D. van Remortel, J. D. Wickham, K. H. Riitters, AND R. V. O'Neill. Predicting Nutrient and Sediment Loadings to Streams from Landscape Metrics: A Multiple Watershed Study from the United States Mid-Atlantic Region. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY 16(4):301-312, (2001).
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There has been an increasing interest in evaluating the relative condition or health of water resources at regional and national scales. Of particular interest is an ability to identify those areas where surface and ground waters have the greatest potential for high levels of nutrient and sediment loadings. High levels of nutrient and sediment loadings can have adverse effects on both humans and aquatic ecosystems. We analyzed the ability of landscape metrics generated from readily available, spatial data to predict nutrient and sediment yield to streams in the Mid-Atlantic Region in the United States. We used landscape metric coverages generated from a previous assessment of the entire Mid-Atlantic Region, and a set of stream sample data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Landscape metrics consistently explained high amounts of variation in nitrogen yields to streams (65 to 86% of the total variation). They also explained 73 and 79% of the variability in dissolved phosphorus and suspended sediment.
Although there were differences in the nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment models, the amount of agriculture, riparian forests, and atmospheric nitrate deposition (nitrogen only) consistently explained a high proportion of the variation in these models. Differences in the models also suggest potential differences in landscape-stream relationships between ecoregions or biophysical settings. The results of the study suggest that readily available, spatial data can be used to assess potential nutrient and sediment loadings to streams, but that it will be important to develop and test landscape models in different biophysical settings.
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| JOURNAL |
Comparison of Ozone Indicators Monitored at Castnet and Rurally Designated Slams Sites |
02/15/2001
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Sickles II, J. E. AND J. C. Suggs. Comparison of Ozone Indicators Monitored at Castnet and Rurally Designated Slams Sites. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 65(3):485-502, (2001).
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Many water-bodies within the United States are contaminated by non-point source (NPS) pollution, which is defined as those materials posing a threat to water quality arising from a number of individual sources and diffused through hydrologic 13romses. One such NPS pollutant is feral coliform, which is derived from animal writes, including human and is most often associated with urban and agricultural areas. It is postulated that by utilizing land cover indicators, those water-bodies that may be at risk of fecal coliform contamination may be identified. This study utilized land cover information derived from the. Multi-Resolution Land Characterization (MRLC) project to analyze fecal coliform contamination in South Carolina. Also utilized were fourteen digit hydrologic unit code (HUC) watersheds of the state, a digital elevation model, and test point data stating whether the fecal coliform levels exceeded levels assigned in section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Proportions of the various land covers were identified within the individual watersheds and then analyzed using a logistic, regression. TIM results reveal that watersheds with large proportions of urban- land cover and agriculture on steep slopes had a very high probability of being impaired.
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| JOURNAL |
Ant Communities and Livestock Grazing in the Great Basin, USA |
12/10/2001
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Nash, M. S., W. G. Whitford, D. F. Bradford, S. E. Franson, A. C. Neale, AND D. T. Heggem. Ant Communities and Livestock Grazing in the Great Basin, USA. JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS 49(4):695-710, (2001).
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The objectives of this study were to determine if metrics for ant species assemblages can be used as indicators of rangeland condition, and to determine the influence of vegetation and ground cover variables, factors often influenced by livestock grazing, on ant communities. The study was conducted in two areas in the Great Basin: a sagebrush-steppe in southeastern Idaho (n = 30 sites), and a salt-desert shrub in western Utah (n = 27 sites). Sites were selected based on known rangeland condition (i.e. good, fair, poor) associated with livestock grazing. Ant communities differed considerably between the two study areas. Collectively, more ant species occurred at the Idaho sites (30) than at the Utah sites (2 1), relatively few species (eight) occurred in both areas, species richness was significantly greater at the Idaho sites (mean = 12-0 species) than the Utah sites (mean = 6-9 species), and Formica spp. were diverse (total of 15 species) at the Idaho sites but rare (one species) at the Utah sites. In Idaho, all species collectively, generalists, and Formica spp. were significantly less abundant on sites in poor condition than that on sites in good or fair condition, whereas in Utah, seed harvesters and Pheidole spp. were significantly more abundant on sites in poor condition than that on sites in good or fair condition. In Idaho, species richness was significantly lower on sites in poor condition. In Idaho, species richness and relative abundances of several ant groups were significantly related, to bare patch size and parameters for cover or species richness of several vegetation groups. In contrast to the comparisons involving sites in poor condition, no differences in ant communities in either Idaho or Utah were evident between sites in good and fair condition. Thus, the ant communities responded only to large changes in rangeland condition and to large differences in climatic/edaphic conditions between the two areas. Hence, ant community metrics appear to have limited utility as indicators of rangeland condition in the Great Basin.
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| JOURNAL |
Speciation and Detection of Organotins from Pvc Pipe By Micro-Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry |
10/29/2001
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JonesLepp, T. AND K. E. Varner. Speciation and Detection of Organotins from Pvc Pipe By Micro-Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry. APPLIED ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY 15(12):933-938, (2001).
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| JOURNAL |
Soil and Hydrology of a Wet-Sandy Catena in East-Central Minnesota |
11/02/2001
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Reuter, R. J. AND J. C. Bell. Soil and Hydrology of a Wet-Sandy Catena in East-Central Minnesota. SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL 65(6):1559-1569, (2001).
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Sail properties are strongly related to the retention and movement of water within the soil system. The purposes of this study were to document the near-surface hydrology of a wetland-upland hillslope on a sandy glacial outwash plain in east-central Minnesota and to describe the patterns of soil morphology with respect to observed hydrology. Water levels, soil temperature, soil-water tension, and redox potential were monitored at seven points along a 41-m hillslope transect composed of Psamments, Aquents, Aquods, and Saprists. In addition to standard field descriptions, particle-size distribution, percentage of organic C, and
citrate-dithionate and ammonium-oxalate extractable Fe (Fed and Fe. respectively) were
determined for profiles at each transect point. During the study period, the 30-yr mean annual precipitation (MAP) was exceeded in 4 of 5 yr. Mean water levels were highest in spring and
water levels typically rose from September through May. The depth to redoximorphic features increases with elevation above the peatland and the upper extent of redoximorphic features is 15 to 60 cm above the measured mean water table level. In the upper landscape positions, the redoximorphic features were located 12 cm above the maximum recorded water level. The distribution characteristics of Fe throughout the soil system indicate that Fe has been removed from the upslope soils and reconcentrated in organic-rich horizons in the lower landscape positions. The combination of Fe distribution and the location of redoximorphic features well above the mean water table suggest that the regional water table has been lowered. Water serves as one of the primary energy sources for landscape processes, such as sequestration of organic C (OC), erosion, colonization of vegetation, and distribution of soluble and mobile compounds. Ile correlation between water status, landscape, and soil properties has been well-documented in pedologic studies. A brief review indicates that the correlation persists across land types and geographic locations. Simonson and Boersma (1972) documented strong correlation between depth to water table and soil color pat- terns in a drainage sequence in western Oregon. In Illinois, Kreznor et al. (1989) found that landscape position and terrain attributes affect distribution of soil properties such as A horizon thickness and clay and OC content. Evans and Franzmeier (1 986) discussed the relationships between duration and season of occurrence of soil saturation with soil color patterns in north- central Indiana. Pickering and Veneman (1984) also found evidence of relationships between duration and time of soil saturation and distribution of soil color in a hydrosequence in Massachusetts. ne Wet Soil Monitoring Project (WSMP) is a cooperative project between the NRCS-National Soil Survey Center, under the Global Change Initiative, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wetlands Research Program, and several universities in the USA. The overarching objective of the project is to collect baseline data for hydrology and soil properties in different climatic regimes and landscapes so that these data can be used in the future to evaluate the effects of climate change on landscape hydrology and ecosystems. Eight states- Alaska, Indiana, Louisiana, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Texas, Oregon, and Minnesota-participate in the WSMP (Lynn et al., 1996). One of the specific areas that WSMP researchers are focusing on is morphological indicators of hydric soils. This study documents the observations and results of the Minnesota WSMP Site at Cedar Creek on the Anoka Sandplain (Fig. 1). Review of the literature for the area indicates that the hydrology of the Anoka Sandplain prior to the 1970s lacks documentation, especially on a landscape scale. The Cedar Creek WSMP site provides a platform to document the current hydrology and its relationship to soil morphology from a catena perspective. Objectives for the study were to (i) document the near-surface hydrology of an upland-wetland transect representative of undisturbed conditions within the An- oka Sandplain and (ii) describe the spatial distribution of soil morphological properties with respect to hillslope hydrology. Our hypothesis is that the spatial distribution of redoximorphic features in soils is a function of the location of the near-surface water table relative to the soil surface.
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| JOURNAL |
Evidence of Phylogenetically Distinct Leopard Frogs (Rana Onca) from the Border Region of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona |
07/17/2001
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Jaeger, J. R., B. R. Riddle, R. D. Jennings, AND D. F. Bradford. Evidence of Phylogenetically Distinct Leopard Frogs (Rana Onca) from the Border Region of Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. COPEIA 2(1):339-354, (2001).
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Remnant populations of leopard frogs within the Virgin River drainage and adjacent portions of the Colorado River (Black Canyon) in northwestern Arizona and southern Nevada either represent the reportedly extinct taxon Rana onca or northern, disjunct Rana yavapaiensis. To determine the evolutionary distinctiveness of these leopard frogs, we evaluated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction site variation (RFLP), mtDNA control region sequences, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers, and morphological characters. Individuals from the Virgin River drainage and Black Canyon represented a single RFLP haplotype and were identical for nucleotides along a portion of control region sequence. Evaluations of RAPD data demonstrated high levels of similarity among individuals and populations from this region. Leopard frogs from the Virgin River drainage and Black Canyon differed from R yavapaiensis from west-central Arizona and northern Mexico in maximum parsimony and distance analyses of RFLP and control region sequence data and in maximum-likelihood analysis of the sequence data. Multidimensional scaling of RAPD data provided a similar and congruent indication of this separation. Analysis of principal component scores demonstrated significant morphological differentiation between leopard frog specimens from the Virgin River drainage and R- yavapaiensis. Parallel patterns of divergence observed in the mtDNA, RAPD, and morphological analyses indicate that leopard frogs from the V'irgin River drainage and adjacent portions of the Colorado River are phylogeneticallyy distinct. These leopard frogs should be recognized as a lineage separate from southern populations of R. yavapaiensis and classified as the species R onca.
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| JOURNAL |
Geographic Targeting of Increases in Nutrient Export Due to Future Urbanization |
11/10/2001
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Wickham, J. D., R. V. O'Neill, K. H. Riitters, E. R. Smith, T. G. Wade, AND K. B. Jones. Geographic Targeting of Increases in Nutrient Export Due to Future Urbanization. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS 12(1):93-106, (2001).
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Urbanization replaces the extant natural resource base (e.g., forests, wet- lands) with an infrastructure that is capable of supporting humans. One ecological consequence of urbanization is higher concentrations of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) in streams, lakes, and estuaries. When received in excess, N and P are considered pollutants. Continuing urbanization will change the relative distribution of extant natural resources. Characteristics of the landscape can shape its response to disturbances such as urbanization. Changes in landscape characteristics across a region create a geographic pattern of vulnerability to increased N and P as a result of urbanization. We linked nutrient-export risk and urbanization models in order to identify areas most vulnerable to increases in nutrient- export risk due to projected urbanization. A risk-based model of N and P export exceeding specified thresholds was developed based on the extant distribution of forest, agriculture, and urban land cover. An empirical model of urbanization was used to increase urban land cover at the expense of forest and agriculture. The modeled (future) land cover was input into the N and P export risk model, and the "before" and "after" estimates of N and P export were compared to identify the areas most vulnerable to change. Increase in N and P export had to be equal to or greater than the accumulated uncertainties in the nutrient-export risk and urbanization models for an area to be considered vulnerable. The areas most vulnerable to increased N and P export were not spatially coincident with the areas of greatest urbanization. Vulnerability also depended on the geographic distribution of forest and agriculture. In general, the areas most vulnerable to increased N exports were where the modeled urbanization rate was at least 20% and the amount of forest was about 6 times greater than the amount of agriculture. For P, the most vulnerable areas were where the modeled urbanization rate was at least 20% and the amount of forest was about 2 times greater than the amount of agriculture. Vulnerability to increased N and P export was the result of two. interacting spatial patterns, urbanization and the extant distribution of land cover. It could not be predicted from either alone.
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| JOURNAL |
Modeling Snake Microhabitat from Radiotelemetry Studies Using Polytomous Logistic Regression |
12/14/2001
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Cross, C. L. AND C. E. Petersen. Modeling Snake Microhabitat from Radiotelemetry Studies Using Polytomous Logistic Regression. JOURNAL OF HERPETOLOGY 35(4):590-597, (2001).
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Multivariate analysis of snake microhabitat has historically used techniques that were derived under assumptions of normality and common covariance structure (e.g., discriminant function analysis, MANOVA). In this study, polytomous logistic regression (PLR which does not require such assumptions, was developed to model habitat use patterns from snake radiotelemetry data. Two case study examples were used: the copperhead ( Agkistrodon contortrix) in a forested habitat in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA, and the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon p. piscivorus in a wetland habitat in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. The model was developed based on grid-cell counts of the habitat used by adult snakes that were radiotracked for a minimum of one activity season (early spring through late fall). In addition to PLR modeling, a nonparametric MANOVA procedure based on ranked data from presence versus random sites was developed for comparative purposes. Although the results were similar in terms of the variables chosen by the models, nonparametric procedures lack predictive power, and the conclusions drawn from them are sometimes questionable or difficult to interpret Polytomous logistic regression provides a useful alternative to traditional modeling approaches that require ancillary data from random sites; PLR requires data only from sites used by the snakes, and was developed based on use-intensity categorization. Suggestions for model implementation (e.g., in a GIS) are discussed,
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| JOURNAL |
Loggerhead Sea Turtle Late Nesting Ecology in Virginia Beach, Virginia |
11/20/2001
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Cross, C. L., J. B. Gallegos, AND F. G. James. Loggerhead Sea Turtle Late Nesting Ecology in Virginia Beach, Virginia. BANISTERIA 17:52-55, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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T'he.loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta came is the only recurrent nesting species of sea turtle in southeastern Virginia (Lutcavage & Musick, 1985; Dodd, 1988). Inasmuch as the loggerhead is a federally threatened species, the opportunity to gather data on its nesting ecology is important for establishing appropriate management strategies. Loggerhead females deposit eggs on a 2-4 year cycle, and produce an average of 1-7 nests in any one breeding season (Ehrhart, 1979; Dodd, 1988; Ernst et al., 1994). Nesting in southeastern Virginia generally occurs ftm late May through July, with an occasional nest produced in August. Data from other locations in the southeastern United States indicate that eggs incubate for an average of 60-65 days (range .= 59-78) in natural and transplanted nests (Ernst et al., 1994), and from 70-85 days in hatchery-reared nests (Mrosovsky & Yntema, 1980; Blanck & Sawyer, 1981). Temperature-dependent sex determination in logger- heads is well documented (Mrosovsky & Yntema, 1980; Standora & Spotila, 1985; Mrosovsky & Provancha, 1989, 1992). Studies of loggerheads in Florida by Mrosovsky & Provancha (1,989, 1992) suggest that hatchling ratios are strongly female-biased, and Georgia and South Carolina populations produce female-biased hatchlings (Mrosovsky et al., 1984). Pivotal incubation temperatures are 29-30 C; males are produced at cooler temperatures and females at warmer temperatures (Nlrosovsky & Provancha, 1992). Given the generally cooler temperatures found in northern climates, it is possible that loggerhead nests in southeastern Virginia (where mean sand temperatures are approximately 27-28 C) are a source of male hatchlings (DeGroot & Shaw, 1993).
Data on loggerhead nesting ecology on the beaches of Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge (BBNWR), Virginia Beach, Virginia and adjacent beaches immediately north and south of BBNWR have been gathered since 1970. Beginning in 1993, funding from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk, Virginia, has provided salaries for trained U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel at BBNWR to conduct daily patrols along a 16-24 km stretch of beach from May through August.
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| JOURNAL |
An Assessment of Ground Truth Variability Using a "VIRTUAL Field Reference Database" |
06/15/2001
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Lunetta, R. S., J. Iiames, J. Knight, R. O. Congalton, AND T. H. Mace. An Assessment of Ground Truth Variability Using a "VIRTUAL Field Reference Database". PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING AND REMOTE SENSING 67(6):707-716, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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A "Virtual Field Reference Database (VFRDB)" was developed from field measurment data that included location and time, physical attributes, flora inventory, and digital imagery (camera) documentation foy 1,01I sites in the Neuse River basin, North Carolina. The sampling frame incorporated both systematic unaligned and stratified random design elements to provide
an even distribution of points across the study area and sufficient sampling site intensification to characterize under represented classes. Field sampling was accomplished during May through September of 1998 and 1999. Field crews navigated to sampling -points using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) operating in real-time (satellite broadcast) differential corrected mode. Circular plots with a radius of 36.5 meters were measured and flagged to provide 0.4 hectare plots. Field measurements were made corresponding to location and time, physical parameter and biophysical measurements. Measurements corresponding to physical parameters included, slope, aspect, elevation, percent cover of predominate land-cover type, water regime, and soil moisture condition (,descriptive), diameter breast height (DBH) and percent canopy cover wwe collected, at. appropriate. DBH was determined using a refractive lense technique, slope was measured using a clinometer, and percent canopy using both the vertical tube and hemispherical densitometer techniques. Detailed inventory of crop types, ground cover, shrubs, undcr-story tree and tree canopy constituents and relative abundances were dotermine4 for each site, as appropriate. Also, a high resolution (1040 x 940 pixels) natural color imagery series was acquired for each site,
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| JOURNAL |
Remote Sensing Tools Assist in Environmental Forensics Part II Digital Tools |
05/11/2001
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Brilis, G. M., P. M. Stokely, R. J. Waasbergen, AND C. L. Gerlach. Remote Sensing Tools Assist in Environmental Forensics Part II Digital Tools. ENVIRONMENTAL FORENSICS 2(3):1-7, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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This is part two of a two-part discussion, in which we will provide an overview of the use of GIS and GPS in environmental analysis and enforcement.
GIS describes a system that manages, analyzes and displays geographic information. Environmental applications include analysis of source, extent and transport of contaminants, nonpoint runoff modeling, flood control, and emergency response support. The ability to examine spatial relationships between environmental observations and other mapped and historical information, and to communicate these relationships to others, makes GIS valuable in environmental forensics. The US Environmental Protection Agency currently requires the inclusion of locational information with all other environmental data that is collected.
GIS is a complex tool that requires careful planning and design to be successfully implemented.
Choices in hardware, software and data development must be based on evaluation of project objectives, analytical requirements, data availability and data development considerations. Data sets must be evaluated and documented with metadata. The GPS (Global Position System) is a satellite based system that provides highly accurate, three-dimensional position information anywhere on the earth's surface. Using portable radio receivers, field analysts can easily record the positions of spill sites, sampling locations and other environmental features. Spatial accuracy of GPS ranges from 20-30 m (single receiver) to 1-5 meters (differential GPS) for navigation-grade instruments, and down to millimeter level accuracy for geodetic units. GPS can be used not only to capture spatial information into a GIS system, but also to evaluate and quantify the spatial accuracy of existing digital map data, and to provide control points for existing aerial photographs and other remotely-sensed data.
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| JOURNAL |
Utilization of Landscape Indicators to Model Watershed Impairment |
08/21/2001
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Smith, J. H., K. B. Jones, J. D. Wickham, AND T. G. Wade. Utilization of Landscape Indicators to Model Watershed Impairment. AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, WATER RESOURCES BULLETIN, AND INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION ON WATER QUALITY 37(4):805-814, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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Many water-bodies within the United States are contaminated by non-point source (NPS) pollution, which is defined as those materials posing a threat to water quality arising from a number of individual sources and diffused through hydrologic 13romses. One such NPS
pollutant is fecal coliform, which is derived from animal rights, including human and is most often associated with urban and agricultural areas. It is postulated that by utilizing land cover indicators, those water-bodies that may be at risk of fecal coliform contamination may be identified. This study utilized land cover information derived from the. Multi-Resolution Land Characterization (MRLC) project to analyze fecal coliform contamination in South Carolina. Also utilized were fourteen digit hydrologic unit code (HUC) watersheds of the state, a digital elevation model, and test point data stating whether the fecal coliform levels exceeded levels assigned in section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Proportions of the various land covers were identified within the individual watersheds and then analyzed using a logistic, regression. TIM results reveal that watersheds with large proportions of urban- land cover and agriculture on steep slopes had a very high probability of being impaired.
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| JOURNAL |
Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice): An Investigative Tool for Characterization and Identification of Compounds of Regulatory Importance |
07/25/2001
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Grange, A. H. AND G. W. Sovocool. Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice): An Investigative Tool for Characterization and Identification of Compounds of Regulatory Importance. ENVIRONMENTAL FORENSICS 2(1):61-74, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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Ion Composition Elucidation (ICE) often leads to identification of compounds and provides high quality evidence for tracking compounds to their sources. Mass spectra for most organic compounds are not found in mass spectral libraries used to tentatively identify analytes. In addition, multiple matches are common. Ion Composition Elucidation provides the numbers of atoms of each element in the ions in the mass spectrum, greatly limiting the number of possible compounds that could produce the mass spectrum. Review of chemical and commercial literature then limits the number of possible compounds to one or a few that can be purchased to confirm tentative compound identifications by comparison of mass spectra and chromatographic retention times. Ion Composition Elucidation is conceptually simple relative to other analytical techniques and more easily explained to a judge or jury. It is based on sums of the exact masses of atoms and their isotopic abundances. Several applications of ICE are demonstrated for ultra-trace-level compounds in an extract of the effluent from a tertiary sewage treatment plant including: (i) measurement of five values to determine an ion's composition and to generate evidence for the compound's identity, (ii) rejection of incorrect library matches, (iii) rapid screening for a target compound in an extract, and (iv) a strategy for tracking unidentified compounds to their sources.
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| JOURNAL |
Non-Regular Maximum Likelihood Estimation |
12/16/2001
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Holland, D. M. Non-Regular Maximum Likelihood Estimation. Encyclopedia of Environmetrics. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, Uk, 3:1235-1239, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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Even though a body of data on the environmental occurrence of medicinal, government-approved ("ethical") pharmaceuticals has been growing over the last two decades (the subject of this book), nearly nothing is known about the disposition of illicit (illegal) drugs in the environment. Whether illicit drugs are similarly discharged to and survive in the environment (as discussed for medicinal drugs in the previous chapters of this book), and if so, whether they have adverse effects on native biota, is completely unknown. Regardless, with the newly acquired interest of environmental chemists in monitoring for medicinal drugs in environmental samples, science is now afforded the rare opportunity to simultaneously advance the understanding of a process (i.e., the inadvertent discharge of illicit drugs to the environment via their purposeful use) and to also have the ability to impact public discourse and social policy on a highly controversial subject - namely, the pervasive manufacture, trade, and use of illegal drugs.
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| JOURNAL |
Remote Sensing and Mountaintop Mining |
12/13/2001
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Slonecker, E. T. AND M. J. Lacerte. Remote Sensing and Mountaintop Mining. REMOTE SENSING REVIEWS 20(4):293-322, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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Coal mining is Appalachia has undergone dramatic changes in the past decade. Modem mining practices know as Mountaintop Mining (MTM) and Valley Fills (VF) are at the center of an environmental and legal controversy that has spawned lawsuits and major environmental investigations. MTM techniques efficiently extract coal seams by removing entire tops of mountains through the use of explosives and massive earth-moving equipment. Overburden material is often deposited in nearby valleys that are also ephemeral headwater streams. These mining practices have drawn criticism from residents and the environmental community but are also supported by unions and the mining industry. This type of mining operation is a major source of efficient extraction of low-sulphur, less-air-polluting coal, which is required for much of the energy production in the United States. Although MTM techniques will continued to be debated from legal and environmental perspectives, one fact is clear to both sides; the long-term ecological effects are unknown and this is an area of needed scientific inquiry. Remote sensing technology, used in concert with other sources of scientific data, can provide much of the technical information necessary to address this scientific information shortfall. Although there has been little or no remote sensing research directly addressing Mountaintop Mining, there has been decades of remote sensing application directed at surface mining in general. This paper reviews remote sensing research with respect to surface mining and the application of these techniques to the study of the effects of Mountaintop Mining.
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| JOURNAL |
"EMERGING" Pollutants, and Communicating the Science of Environmental Chemistry and Mass Spectrometry: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment |
07/31/2001
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Daughton, C. G. "EMERGING" Pollutants, and Communicating the Science of Environmental Chemistry and Mass Spectrometry: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY 12(10):1067-1076, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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This paper weaves a rnulti-dimensioned perspective of mass spectrometry as a career against the backdrop of mass spectrometry's key role in the past and future of environmental chemistry. Along the way, some insights are offered for better focusing the spotlight on the discipline of mass spectrometry.
A Foundation for Environmental Science-Mass Spectrometry Historically fundamental to our understanding of environmental processes and chemical pollution is mass spectrometry. This branch of analytical chemistry is the workhorse which supplies much of the definitive data to environmental scientists and engineers for identifying the molecular compositions, and ultimately the structures, of chemicals. This is not to ignore the complementary and critical roles played by the adjunct practices of sample enrichment (e.g., to lower method detection limits via any of various means of selective extraction) and analyte separation (e.g., to lessen contaminant interferences via the myriad forms of chromatography and electrophoresis).
While the power of mass spectrometry has long been highly visible to the practicing environmental chemist, it borders on continued obscurity to the lay public and most non-chemists. Even though mass spectrometry has played a long, historic and Largely invisible role in establishing or undergirding our existing knowledge about environmental processes and pollution, what recognition it does enjoy is usually relegated to that of a tool. It is usually the relevance or significance of the knowledge acquired from the application of the tool that has ultimate meaning to the public and science at large, not how the knowledge was acquired.
Communicating Science - Mass Spectrometry and the Risk- Paradigm
Protecting human and ecological health from chemical hazards is rooted in assessing and managing/controlling chemical risks, a process requiring data from many aspects of the risk Paradigm. Comprising this Paradigm are a series of inter-related steps or activities, such as identifying sources, establishing environmental occurrence, elucidating fate and transport, verifying exposure or effects (eg., bio-markers), and developing remediation/control technologies. Mass spectrometry plays a critical, direct role in all of them, except the actual step of assessing risk (Figure 1). Mass spectrometry is essential to obtaining data required for establishing environmental source/origin, occurrence (identities concentrations), fate and transport including that for all associated transformation products), exposure (including measurement of biomarkers), effects (including receptor interactions and metabolites).
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| JOURNAL |
Land Cover Assessment of Indigenous Communities in the Bosawas Region of Nicaragua |
09/25/2001
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Smith, J. H. Land Cover Assessment of Indigenous Communities in the Bosawas Region of Nicaragua. HUMAN ECOLOGY REVIEW 29(3):339-347, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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Data derived from remotely sensed images were utilized to conduct land cover assessments of three indigenous communities in northern Nicaragua. Historical land use, present land cover and land cover change processes were all identified through the use of a geographic information system (GIS). Results of the assessment reveals that the indigenous peoples were utilizing portions of their present claims in the decade before 1986, that most of the these areas were abandoned during the civil war of the 1980's, and that the residents returned to the region at the conclusion of the war. Also moving into the region at this time were mestizo settlers seeking new lands to occupy. Four change processes were identified as occurring during the period 1986-1995, deforestation, degradation, reconversion, and reforestation, with degradation affecting the largest area, followed by reforestation. The data produced by this study will aid the communities in retaining their lands, and developing land use management plans that meet their needs.
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| JOURNAL |
On-Site Solid-Phase Extraction and Laboratory Analysis of Ultra-Trace Synthetic Musks in Municipal Sewage Effluent Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in the Full-Scan Mode |
09/30/2001
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Osemwengie, L. I. AND S. Steinberg. On-Site Solid-Phase Extraction and Laboratory Analysis of Ultra-Trace Synthetic Musks in Municipal Sewage Effluent Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in the Full-Scan Mode. JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHY 932(1-2):107-118, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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Fragrance materials such as synthetic musks in aqueous samples, are normally determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode to provide maximum sensitivity after liquid-liquid extraction of I -L samples. Full-scan mass spectra are required to verify that a target analyte has been found by comparison with the mass spectra of fragrance compounds in the NIST mass spectral library. A I -L sample usually provides insufficient analyte for full scan data acquisition. This paper describes an on-site extraction method developed at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)- Las Vegas Nevada - for synthetic musks from 60 L of wastewater effluent. Such a large sample volume permits high-quality, full-scan mass spectra to be obtained for a wide array of synthetic musks.
Quantification of these compounds was achieved from the full-scan data directly, without the
need to acquire SIM data. The detection limits obtained with this method are an order of
magnitude lower than those obtained from liquid-liquid and other solid phase extraction
methods. This method is highly reproducible, and recoveries ranged from 80 to 97% in spiked
sewage treatment plant effluent. The high rate of sorbent-sample mass transfer eliminated the
need for a methanolic activation step, which reduced extraction time, labor, and solvent use,
More samples could be extracted in the field at lower cost. After swnple extraction, the light-
weight cartridges are easily transported and stored.
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| JOURNAL |
Ants as Biological Indicators for Monitoring Changes in Arid Environments: Lessons for Monitoring Protected Areas |
09/05/2001
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Nash, M. S. AND W. G. Whitford. Ants as Biological Indicators for Monitoring Changes in Arid Environments: Lessons for Monitoring Protected Areas. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM AND WORKSHOP ON ARID ZONE ENVIRONMENTS, 105-121, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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The responses of ant communities to structural change (removal of an invasive were studied in a replicated experiment in a Chihuahuan Desert grassland. The results from sampling of ant communities by pit-fall trapping were validated by mapping ant colonies on the experimental plots. Spatial and temporal responses of a dominant species were examined by kriging maps and analysis of variance. The Merical and spatial responses of ants recorded from pit-fall trap data were the same as those recorded from mapping ant nests. The dominant liquid feeding species change and environmental stress. The co-dominant seed-harvesting ant, Pogonomyrmex desertorum Wheeler abundance, exhibited a numerical response to ecosystem change but the nests did not change their spatial distribution. Species richness was also affected by ecosystem change.
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| JOURNAL |
Managing Uncertainty in Environmental Decisions |
10/01/2001
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Crumbling, D., C. Groenjes, B. Lesnik, K. Lynch, J. McKenna, J. Shockley, J. J. van Ee, R. Howe, AND L. Keith. Managing Uncertainty in Environmental Decisions. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 35(19):404A-409A, (2001).
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| Abstract:
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Many environmental decision makers and practitioners worldwide assume that the quality of data pertaining to a contaminated site is primarily determined by the nature of thhe analytical chemistry methods used to collect information. This assumption, which diminishes the importance of sampling uncertainties, can have a pronounced, negative effect on the cost and effectiveness on contaminated site cleanups.
Data produced by regulator-approved laboratory analytical methods are commonly assumed to be practically free of uncertainty and so are termed "definitive data". In contrast, data produced in the field are generalized as "field screening" and are considered too uncertain to support important project decision or regulatory actions. One of the reasons for such generalizations is that the current regulatory mindset does not readily distinguish between analytical methods and the data produced by them. Although the assumptions behind this mindset are inaccurate, they are pervasive enough to inhibit the widespread adoption of better strategies for assessing and restoring contaminated sites.
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| NEWSLETTER |
Mercury-Exposure Measurements |
06/15/2001
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Hinners, T. A. Mercury-Exposure Measurements. Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, Big Valley Band of Pomo Indian, 2001.
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| Abstract:
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Legal Issues of Geographic Information Systems |
06/26/2001
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Brilis, G. M. Legal Issues of Geographic Information Systems. Presented at Midwest Environmental Enforcement Association 51st Periodic Membership Training Conference, Itasca, IL, June 26-29, 2000.
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Legal issues are becoming as important as any other in promoting or limiting the development of GIS technology. Certainly legal considerations must now be kept in mind during the creation and implementation of large public and private GIS projects. Debate focuses on a number of key issues and questions. This presentation brings to light many of the obvious and hidden legal issues surrounding GIS including product liability and freedom of information.
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| PRESENTATION |
Impacts of Patch Size and Landscape Heterogeneity on Thematic Image Classification Accuracy |
02/27/2001
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Smith, J. H., J. D. Wickham, AND S. V. Stehman. Impacts of Patch Size and Landscape Heterogeneity on Thematic Image Classification Accuracy. Presented at Association of American Geographers, New York, NY, February 27-March 3, 2001.
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| Abstract:
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Impacts of Patch Size and Landscape Heterogeneity on Thematic Image Classification Accuracy. Currently, most thematic accuracy assessments of classified remotely sensed images oily account for errors between the various classes employed, at particular pixels of interest, thus ignoring, the landscape context of the pixel. This study analyzed the effects of this context by lncorporating patch size and landscape heterogeneity in the assessment of classification accuracy Land cover and accuracy assessment data were acquired as part of the Multi-Resolution Land Characterization (MUC) project. These data scts were analyzed using ARC/INFO GRID, isolating portions of land cover data, measuring heterogeneity and aggregating identically classified pixels into distinct regions. Logistic regression techniques were then used to test the influence of region size and neighborhood heterogeneity on whether a pixel was correctly classified, or not. The results revealed that both do impact classification accuracy and that these impacts vary among the classes identified. In general, classification accuracy decreased as regions got smaller and as heterogeneity increased, with the largest portions of error introduced when more than two different classes were present in a three by three pixel neighborhood. In order to acquire a complete picture of classification accuracy, neighborhood characteristics such as patch size and heterogeneity should be incorporated into the accuracy assessment process.
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| PRESENTATION |
Wincadre Inorganic (Windows Computer-Aided Data Review and Evaluation) |
03/03/2001
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Butler, L. C., W. A. Coakley, V. D. Dandge, AND J. R. Caldwell. Wincadre Inorganic (Windows Computer-Aided Data Review and Evaluation). Presented at Pittsburgh 2001 Conference, New Orleans, LA, March 3-10, 2001.
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| Abstract:
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WinCADRE (Computer-Aided Data Review and Evaluation) is a Windows -based program designed for computer-assisted data validation. WinCADRE is a powerful tool which significantly decreases data validation turnaround time. The electronic-data-deliverable format has been designed in Excel, a widely-used, user-friendly spreadsheet program. WinCADRE reviews all data and checks laboratory calculations. WinCADRE data-review logic is based on the EPA Contract Laboratory Program (CLP)guidelines for data validation. However, the method, criteria, defects and flags are all customizable by the user for alternate CLP and non-CLP methods. This allows the user to customize method specifications, specify data review criteria, customize defect messages, and specify qualifier-flag assignments. The data are displayed from the file and are consolidated into customized user interface screens for added convenience. Reports are provided for import errors (missing and invalid), data listings [field samples, detection limits, analytical sequence, TIC (tentatively identified compound) results], analysis results (field samples, matrix spikes, post-digest spikes, duplicates, laboratory control samples, serial dilutions), and data review (data review, intermediate flag results, final flags spreadsheet). All reports may be previewed on-screen, printed as a hard copy, or saved to disk, allowing customization of the report formats.
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| PRESENTATION |
Land Cover Change and Large Scale Hydrologic Modeling of the San Pedro River and Catskill/Delaware Basins |
01/07/2001
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Miller, S., W. G. Kepner, M. H. Mehaffey, M. Hernandez, D. C. Goodrich, R. Miller, D. T. Heggem, P. Miller, AND F. K. Devonald. Land Cover Change and Large Scale Hydrologic Modeling of the San Pedro River and Catskill/Delaware Basins. Presented at Integrated Decision-making for watershed management symposium, Chevy Chase, MD, January 7-10, 2001.
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This study is based on the assumption that land cover change and rainfall spatial variability affect the r-ainfall-runoff relationships on the watershed. Hydrologic response is an integrated indicator of watershed condition, and changes in land cover may affect the overall health and function of a watershed. This paper argon watershed response were quantified using describes a study wherein the effects of land coyer c* hydrologic simulation models in two distinctly different watersheds, one a semi-arid watershed in southeast Arizona, and the other a forested watershed in upstate New York- One of the models is event-based with a c)ne-minute time step (KINEROS), and the second is a continuous model with a daily time step (SWAT). Inputs to the models were derived from a geographic information system (GIS) based tool utilizing USGS digital elevation models, the State Soil Geographic Database (STATSGO) and Landsat-based North American Landscape Characterization (NALC) imagery in conjunction with available literature and look up ables. Continuous rainfall data from available National Weather Service rain gauges were used as input to SWAT, while design storms were created from historical data to provide rainfall input to KINEROS. Landscape composition and pattern metrics have been generated from digital land cover maps derived from the images and compared across a nearly 25-year period. Results about changes in land cover for the study period indicate that in the San Pedro study area, grasslands and desertscrub not only decreased in extent but also became more fragmented due to the encroachment of xerophytic mesquite woodland. In the Cannonsville watershed change has been subtle with shifts in composition resulting in a net 'increase in forest cover'. These change have important implications for hydrology since alterations in land cover types can impact energy and water balance characteristics. Hydrologic simulations were carried out for both study areas over the periods of record covered by the interpreted satellite data, and simulation results underscore the role of land cover in determining runoff volume and rate as well as water quality.
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| PRESENTATION |
Using GIS and Aerial Photography to Determine a Historical Impervious Surface/Streamflow Relationship |
07/09/2001
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Jennings, D. B. AND S. T. Jarnagin. Using GIS and Aerial Photography to Determine a Historical Impervious Surface/Streamflow Relationship. Presented at ESRI User Conference 2001, San Diego, CA, July 9-13, 2001.
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| Abstract:
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Impervious surfaces are a leading contributor to non-point-source water pollution in urban watersheds. These surfaces include such features as roads, parking lots, rooftops and driveways. Arcview GIS and the Image Analysis extension have been utilized to geo-register and map impervious surface area from six dates of digital historical photography (1949 -1994) in the upper Accotink Creek subwatershed located in northern Virginia. These data, along with concurrent streamflow and climate data, were then utilized to assess the historical relationship between the growth of impervious surfaces and changes in streamflow. The integration of historical aerial photography and GIS can reveal historical changes in landscape pattern and shows promise as a tool for understanding long-term changes in ecosystem function.
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| PRESENTATION |
Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice): A High Resolution Mass Spectrometric Technique for Characterization and Identification of Organic Compounds |
04/01/2001
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Grange, A. H. AND G. W. Sovocool. Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice): A High Resolution Mass Spectrometric Technique for Characterization and Identification of Organic Compounds. Presented at American Chemical Society, 221st National Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 1-5, 2001.
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| Abstract:
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Identifying compounds found in the environment without knowledge of their origin is a very difficult analytical problem. Comparison of the low resolution mass spectrum of a compound with those in the NIST or Wiley mass spectral libraries can provide a tentative identification when the mass spectrum is free of interferences, at least several prominent ions are observed in the mass spectrum, the mass spectrum is in the library, and only one plausible match is found. Because these libraries contain only 226,334 distinct compounds (1) compared to the 16 million compounds that have been synthesized or isolated from natural sources (2), most compounds are not found in the libraries. In addition, most compounds are ionic, too polar, too thermolabile, or too high in mass to traverse a GC column or to volatilize from a probe. For these compounds, liquid sample introduction with electrospray ionization (ESI) or atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) provides few fragment ions for pattern matching, and adduct ions complicate the mass spectra. Commercial ESI and APCI mass spectral libraries are not available. Consequently, low resolution mass spectrometry cannot identify most compounds-.
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| PRESENTATION |
New York City's Water Supply: A 25 Year Landscape Analysis of the Catskill/Delaware Watersheds |
04/25/2001
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Mehaffey, M. H., M. S. Nash, T. G. Wade, AND C. M. Edmonds. New York City's Water Supply: A 25 Year Landscape Analysis of the Catskill/Delaware Watersheds. Presented at The 16th Annual Symposium of the US Regional Chapter of the International Association of Landscape Ecology, Tempe, AZ, April 25-29, 2001.
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| Abstract:
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A number of water bodies located within the New York City's water supply system are impairedby nutrients, pathogens and sediment. The objective of this study was to investigate long term
landscape and water quality trends using multiple snap shots in time spanning two decades
(1975-1998). Biweekly water quality, rainfall and discharge data from 1987-1998 was used to
examine temporal and discharge relations at six locations within the watershed. Stepwise
multiple regression analyses (n-732) were used to determine the contribution of the landscape
metrics to surface water total nitrogen, total phosphorous, and fecal coliform. Percentages of
agriculture and urban development were the dominant landscape variables over the years and
explained 25-65% of the variability in water quality measurements. Barren, agriculture on steep
slopes and agriculture on erodible soils were also contributed significantly to water but explaining only a small portion (4-8%) of the overall variability. During the past two decades the release of agricultural fields from farming has returned a small percentage of land (2%) to
secondary growth forest. Most of the change in landscape took place from 1985 to 1998 and
corresponds to decreases in nitrogen (0.039 to 0.009 mg/L/month) and phosphorous (0.053 to 2.81 mu g/L/month). With over half of the remaining agriculture located within 240 meters of
streams, efforts to further decrease pollution would have the greatest impact by directing best
management practices and land acquisition within these riparian zones.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Phototoxicity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons |
04/01/2001
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Betowski, L. D., M. Enlow, AND L. A. Riddick. The Phototoxicity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Presented at The ACS meeting, San Diego, CA, April 1-5, 2001.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to be interested in developing methods for the detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS) in the environment. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS) are common contaminants in our environment. Being major products of combustion processes, they are often found in air, water, and soil. While some PAHs are directly toxic and carcinogenic, exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light can increase the toxicity of some of these compounds to aquatic organisms. Newsted and Giesy investigated many of the factors that could be contributing to this phototoxicity effect of the PAHs'. The phosphorescence lifetime of the'PAHs had the best predictive power of the parameters investigated and was also found to be correlated with the lowest triplet energy of the molecule. In their attempt to develop a predictive model for the phototoxicity of PAHS, they found that non-linear models had to be used. The curve that best fits the data for a series of PARs resembles a parabola, with the triplet energy for each PAH found to be the best descriptor to these curve-linear models for predicting median lethal time (LT50) or adjusted median lethal time (ALT). Mekenyan et al.' looked deeper into the effect of each parameter on the phototoxicity of the PAHS. They proposed a series of independent, mechanistic molecular processes, which were consistent with the parabolic relationship of Newsted and Giesy. The internal effect of light absorbance was predicated to depend on the HOMO-LUMO gap, which is the energy difference between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the molecule. The main external factor controlling phototoxicity was the exposure intensity. If there were a constant flux of photons at each wavelength in natural sunlight, photo-induced toxicity would show a linear dependence versus energy absorbed. But this flux falls off with increasing energy. Toxicity experiments used intensity ratios of 680:120:25 to simulate natural sunlight for the regions of the spectrum, visible (400-700 nm), UVA (337-400 run), and UVB (315-336 nm). These internal and external effects relating phototoxicity to the HOMO-LUMO gap, therefore, combine to produce the parabolic relationship. More formally, the HOMO-LUMO gap can be replaced by the excited state energy in these studies. Therefore, singlet and triplet excited state ab initio calculations were performed with a 6-31 1 G(d,p) basis set, using the configuration interaction approach, modeling excited states as combinations of single substitutions out of the Hartree-Fock ground state (CI-Singles or CIS). Two other methods were used to test the agreement with experiment for test compounds. Calculations were performed using the Gaussian 94 or the Gaussian 98 program suites.
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| PRESENTATION |
A 25-Year History of Land Cover Change in the San Pedro River |
08/19/2001
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Kepner, W. G., C. J. Watts, C. M. Edmonds, J. K. Maingi, AND S. E. Marsh. A 25-Year History of Land Cover Change in the San Pedro River. Presented at 131st Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, Phoenix, AZ, August 19-23, 2001.
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Vegetation change in the American West has been a subject of concern throughout the twentieth century. Although many of the changes have been recorded qualitatively through the use of comparative photography and historical reports, little quantitative information has been available on the regional or watershed scale. Additionally, little research effort has been dedicated to improving human perception regarding changing conditions and trend relative to planning and management of common resources at regional landscape scales. During the past two decades, important advances in the integration of remote imagery, computer processing, and spatial analysis technologies have been used to better understand the distribution of natural communities and ecosystems, and the ecological processes that affect these patterns. These technologies provide the basis for developing landscape measurements that can document large-scale watershed condition and have been deployed in the Upper San Pedro Watershed (U. S ./Mexico) to examine long-term ecological change.
This project utilizes a strategy which generates land cover maps from a multi-date satellite imagery database which incorporates Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (N4SS) imagery from the early 1970s, mid 1980s, and early 1990s and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TW imagery from 1997. Results indicate that extensive, highly connected grassland and desertscrub- areas are the most vulnerable ecosystems to fragmentation and actual loss due to encroachment of xerophytic mesquite woodland. In the study period, grasslands and desertscrub not only decreased in extent but also became more fragmented. That is, the number of grassland and desertscrub patches increased and their average patch sizes decreased. In stark contrast, the mesquite woodland patches increased in size, number, and connectivity. These changes have important impact for the hydrology of the region, since the energy and water balance characteristics for these cover types are significantly different. This study has been used to determine ecosystem vulnerabilities through the use of change detection and indicator development, especially in regard to traditional degradation processes that have occurred throughout the western rangelands involving changes of vegetative cover and acceleration of water and wind erosion.
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| PRESENTATION |
An Evaluation of Hydrologic Response to 25 Years of Landscape Change in a Semi-Arid Watershed |
04/25/2001
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Kepner, W. G., S. Miller, M. Hernandez, R. Miller, D. C. Goodrich, C. M. Edmonds, AND P. Miller. An Evaluation of Hydrologic Response to 25 Years of Landscape Change in a Semi-Arid Watershed. Presented at 16th Annual Symposium of the U.S. Chapter of International Association of Landscape Ecology, Tempe, AZ, April 25-29, 2001.
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The assessment of land use and land cover is an extremely important activity for contemporary land management. A large body of current literature suggests that human land-use practices are the most important factor influencing natural resource management at multiple scales. During the past two decades important advances in the integration of remote imagery, computer processing, and spatial analysis technologies have allowed the examination of environmental change. Recently, changes have been documented over a period of approximately 25 years in a semi-arid watershed using a series of remotely sensed images. Landscape change analysis has been linked with distributed hydrologic models to evaluate consequences of land cover change to hydrologic response. A landscape assessment tool using a geographic information system (GIS) has been developed that automates the parameterization of the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrologic model. This tool was used to prepare parameter input files for the San Pedro Basin, a watershed originating in Sonora, Mexico and flowing into southeast Arizona which has undergone significant land cover change. Runoff and sediment yield were simulated using this model. Simulation results for the San Pedro indicate that increasing urban and agricultural areas and the correlative decline of grasslands resulted in increased annual runoff volumes, flashier flood response, and decreased water quality due to sediment loading. These results demonstrate the usefulness of integrating landscape change analysis and distributed hydrologic models through the use of GIS for assessing watershed condition and the relative impacts of land cover transitions on hydrologic response.
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| PRESENTATION |
Utilization of Landscape Indicators to Model Water Quality |
04/25/2001
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Smith, J. H., J. D. Wickham, D. Norton, T. G. Wade, AND K. B. Jones. Utilization of Landscape Indicators to Model Water Quality. Presented at International Association of Landscape Ecology (IALE), Tempe, AZ, April 25, 2001.
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Many water-bodies within the United States are contaminated by, non-point source (NFS) pollution, which is defined as those materials posing a threat to water quality arising from a number of individual sources and diffused through hydrologic processes. One such NPS pollutant is fecal coliform, which is derived from animal wastes, including humans, and is most often associated with urban and agricultural areas. It is postulated that by utilizing land cover indicators those water-bodies that may be at risk of fecal coliform contamination may be identified. This study utilized land cover indicators derived from the Multi-Resolution Land Characterization (MRLC) project to analyze fecal coliform contamination in South Carolina, Also utilized were fourteen digit Hydrologic unit code (HUC) watersheds of the state, a digital elevation model, and test point data stating whether; the fecal coliform levels exceeded levels assigned in section 3 03(d) of the Clean Water Act. Proportions of the various land covers were identified within the lndividual watersheds and then analyzed using a logistic regression. The results reveal that watersheds with large proportions of urban land Cover and agriculture on steep slopes had a very high probability of being impaired. This information will allow managers to make, knowledgeable decisions on assigning conservation resources and assessing impacts of future land cover changes
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| PRESENTATION |
Historical Snow Amounts in the Lake Effect Region of Lake Superior: Evidence of Climate Change in the Great Lakes |
06/25/2001
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Jarnagin, S. T. Historical Snow Amounts in the Lake Effect Region of Lake Superior: Evidence of Climate Change in the Great Lakes. Presented at International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) 2001 Annual Meeting, Green Bay, WI, June 25, 2001.
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Recent studies (Levitus et al., .2000) suggest a warming of the world ocean over the past 50 years. This could be occurring in the Great Lakes also but thermal measurements are lacking. Historical trends in natural phenomena, such as the duration of ice cover on lakes, provide indirect measurements of global warming. Long-term snowfall records exist for the Great -Lakes region. Since lake effect snow is a complex interaction e-vent between surface topography and the temperatures of the lake and the surrounding area, a geographic analysis, of historical trends in seasons snowfall and temperature could provide indirect evidence of trends in seasonal lake heat storage. This study compares historical records of temperature, precipitation, and snowfall in the Lake Superior region to explore this issue. Preliminary results suggest that seasonal snow amounts in. the lake effect region of Lake Superior have significantly increased while seasonal snow amounts outside the lake effect area have not. This suggests that an increasing heat storage trend could be occurring in Lake Superior.
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| PRESENTATION |
Impervious Surfaces and Streamflow Discharge: A Historical Remote Sensing Perspective in a Northern Virginia Subwatershed |
04/25/2001
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Jarnagin, S. T. AND D. B. Jennings. Impervious Surfaces and Streamflow Discharge: A Historical Remote Sensing Perspective in a Northern Virginia Subwatershed. Presented at International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) 2001 Annual Meeting, Tempe, AZ, April 25-28, 2001.
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Impervious surfaces are a leading contributor to non-point-source water pollution in urban watersheds. These surfaces include such features as roads, parking lots, rooftops and driveways. Aerial photography provides a historical vehicle for determining impervious surface growth and, with concurrent daily streamflow and precipitation records, allows the historical relationship of impervious surfaces and streamflow to be explored. Impervious surface area in the upper Accotink Creek subwatershed was mapped from six dates of georegistered historical aerial photography ranging from 1949 to 1994. Impervious surface cover has grown from approximately 3% in 1949 to 33% in 1994. Analysis of historical concurrent daily mean streamflow and daily precipitation records (1949 - 1998) shows a statistically significant increase in normalized discharge rates (per I in. of precipitation) for precipitation events 0.25 in., while the amount of precipitation per event shows no statistically significant change over the same time period. Historical changes in streamflow in this basin appear to be related to increases in impervious surface cover as determined by aerial photography and not to changes in precipitation patterns. The use of historical remote sensing data to reveal changes in landscape characteristics shows promise as a tool in understanding long-term changes in ecosystem function.
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| PRESENTATION |
Submersed Aquatic Vegetation Mapping Using Hyperspectral Imagery |
04/24/2001
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Williams, D. J., T. M. O'Brien, N. B. Rybicki, AND R. B. Gomez. Submersed Aquatic Vegetation Mapping Using Hyperspectral Imagery. Presented at Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) 2001, Coastal Management Through Partnerships, Pensacola, FL, April 24-27, 2001.
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Submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) beds are an important resources for aquatic life andwildfowl in the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay region. SAV habitat is threatened in part by nitrogen loadings from human activities. Monitoring and assessing this resource using field based sampling and mapping using aerial photography is time consuming and costly. The use of airborne hyperspectral remote sensing imagery for automated mapping was investigated for near to real-time resource assessment and monitoring. Field surveys for several pilot sites determined SAV species, density, and distribution as well as water quality and optical parameters. Airborne hyperspectral imagery, together with m-situ spectral reflectance measurements using a field spectrometer, were obtained for the pilot sites in spring and early fall. A spectral library database containing selected ground-based and airborne sensor spectra was developed for use in image processing. My goal of the spectral database is to automate the image processing of hyper-spectral imagery for potential real-time material identification and mapping. Field based spectra were compared to the airborne imagery using the database to identify and map several species of SAV, suspended sediment concentrations, chlorophyll, and wetland vegetation. The resulting imagery derived vegetation maps were assessed for overall accuracy using aerial photography and field based sampling, Ultimately, the species data could be used to study SAV population dynamics and relationships between environmental variables and invasive and native species of SAV. The algorithms and databases developed in this study will be useful with the current and forthcoming space-based hyperspectral remote sensing systems.
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| PRESENTATION |
Gy Sampling Theory and Geostatistics: Alternate Models of Variability in Continuous Media |
08/05/2001
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Englund, E. J. Gy Sampling Theory and Geostatistics: Alternate Models of Variability in Continuous Media. Presented at American Statistical Association, Atlanta, GA, August 5-9, 2001.
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In the sampling theory developed by Pierre Gy, sample variability is modeled as the sum of a set of seven discrete error components. The variogram used in geostatisties provides an alternate model in which several of Gy's error components are combined in a continuous model of spatial variability. Both models describe essentially the same total variability in a continuous medium. Gy's model emphasizes micro scale, or within-sample variability while the variogram emphasizes between-sample variability.
An interesting and useful feature of the variogram model is that it permits computation of the variance of samples within any arbitrary larger volume. When that larger volume reflects a proposed increase in sample mass, the sample-within-volume variance is the variance reduction that can be expected from the mass increase. Exact computation of sample-within-volume variances is difficult but they can be easily estimated visually from the variogram model using simple rules-of-thumb.
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| PRESENTATION |
Determination of a Veterinary Prophylactic Pharmaceutical and Its Transformation Products in Chicken Excreta By Capillary Electrophoresis UV and Capillary Electrophoresis Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry |
05/20/2001
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Rosal, C. G., G. M. Momplaisir, AND E. M. Heithmar. Determination of a Veterinary Prophylactic Pharmaceutical and Its Transformation Products in Chicken Excreta By Capillary Electrophoresis UV and Capillary Electrophoresis Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Presented at 24th International Symposium on Capillary Chromatography and Electrophoresis, Las Vegas, NV, May 20-24, 2001.
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Arsenic animal-feed additives have been extensively used in the United States for their growth- promoting and disease-controlling properties. In particular, most broiler chickens are fed roxarsone (3-nitro- 4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid) to control coccidiosis. Disposal of the resulting arsenic-bearing wastes is currently unregulated, and they are frequently used to fertilize crop lands. Because of the high use of roxarsone in certain geographic regions, it is important that environmental fate of this compound and its transformation products be studied in order to understand their possible impacts on human health and the environment. Therefore, determination of these compounds and naturally occurring environmental inorganic and organic arsenic compounds in various media associated with the disposal of roxarsone-amended wastes is the objective of a research project at the Environmental Sciences Division. This presentation focuses on the capillary electophoresis (CE) separation of roxarsone and its transformation products in chicken excreta. Both ultraviolet (U\I) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) are used for detection. UV detection is not selective enough for environmental samples, but it makes method optimization prior to coupling CE to ICPMS very rugged and time-efficient. Concurrent to the development of the CE method, we are investigating reverse-phase ion-pair high- performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with either UV or ICPMS detection to determine roxarsone and six other arsenic compounds. HPLC separation of all the arsenic compounds requires about 30 minutes. Pavkov and Goessier (2000) used anion exchange chromatography
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| PRESENTATION |
Habitat Patch Occupancy By the Red-Spotted Toad (Bufo Punctatus) in a Naturally Fragmented, Desert Landscape |
02/22/2001
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Bradford, D. F., A. C. Neale, M. S. Nash, D. W. Sada, J. R. Jaeger, AND B. R. Riddle. Habitat Patch Occupancy By the Red-Spotted Toad (Bufo Punctatus) in a Naturally Fragmented, Desert Landscape. Presented at The Annual Meeting of the Wildlife Society, Western Section, Sacramento, CA, February 22-25, 2001.
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Amphibians are often thought to have a metapopulation structure, which may render them vulnerable to habitat fragmentation. The red-spotted toad (Bufo panctatus) in the southwestern USA and Mexico commonly inhabits wetlands that have become much smaller and fewer since the late Pleistocene. This study tests two hypotheses based on metapopulation theory, i.e., incidence of habitat patch occupancy is (1) directly related to patch size and (2) inversely related to patch isolation. In a 20,000 km 2area of the eastern Mojave Desert, 128 potential habitat patches were surveyed for local environmental characteristics and presence/absence of S. punctatus. Patch isolation metrics were based on nearest-neighbor distances, calculated both as Euclidian distance and distance via connected drainage channels. B. punctatus was found at 72% of the sites. Based on stepwise logistic regression, incidence of patch occupancy significantly increased with patch size. Patch occupancy was also significantly related to elevation and four metrics associated with rocky terrain, periodic scouring water flows, and ephemeral water. In contrast, incidence of patch occupancy was not significantly related to patch isolation. These findings are consistent with Harrison's (I991) "patchy population" model, rather than the classical equilibrium metapopulation model, implying frequent dispersal among patches and virtually no local extinctions. This work has been funded by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication.
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| PRESENTATION |
Evidence for Phylogenetically Distinct Leopard Frogs (Rana Onca) from the Border Region of Nevada, Utah, Arizona |
02/22/2001
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Jaeger, J. R., B. R. Riddle, R. D. Jennings, AND D. F. Bradford. Evidence for Phylogenetically Distinct Leopard Frogs (Rana Onca) from the Border Region of Nevada, Utah, Arizona. Presented at The Annual Meeting of the Wildlife Society, Western Section, Sacramento, CA, February 22-25, 2001.
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Remnant populations of leopard frogs exist within the Virgin River drainage and adjacent portions of the Colorado River (Black Canyon) in northwestern Arizona and southern Nevada. These populations either represent the reportedly extinct taxa Rana onca or northern, disjunct R. yavapaiensis. To determine the evolutionary distinctiveness of these frogs, we evaluated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction site variation (RFLP), mtDNA control region sequences, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers, and morphological characters. Individuals from the Virgin River and Black Canyon represented a single RFLP haplotype, were identical for nucleotides within control region sequences, and demonstrated high levels of similarity for RAPD markers. Frogs from these populations differed from R. yavapaiensis in west-central Arizona and northern Mexico in maximum parsimony and distance analyses of RFLP and sequence data, and in maximum likelihood analysis of sequence data. Multidimensional scaling of RAPD data provided a congruent indication of this separation. Analysis of principal component scores demonstrated significant morphological differentiation between frogs from the Virgin River and R. yavapaiensis samples. These parallel patterns of divergence indicate that leopard frogs from the Virgin River and Black Canyon are phylogenetically
distinct from R. yavapaiensis populations to the south and should be classified as the species R. onca. This work has been funded in part by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement DW14937587-01-0. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication.
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| PRESENTATION |
Are Lakes Getting Warmer? Remote Sensing of Large Lake Temperatures |
03/15/2001
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Jarnagin, S. T. Are Lakes Getting Warmer? Remote Sensing of Large Lake Temperatures. Presented at Above and Beyond 2001, EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 19, 2001.
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Recent studies (Levitus et al., 2000) suggest a warning of the world ocean over the past 50 years. Freshwater lakes could also be getting warmer but thermal measurements to determine this are lacking. Large lake temperatures are vertically and horizontally heterogeneous and vary over time. Directly measuring the temperature of a large lake requires many measurements. Carrying out those measurements for a large number of lakes for a long period would be very expensive. Remotely sensed thermal imagery could measure many lakes cheaply over a long time but only measures the skin surface temperature.
My research focuses on the use of historical AVHRR satellite imagery to Calculate a mean seasonal surface temperature for large lakes in North America. I will compare long time series of vertical temperature measurements to Concurrent AVHRR-based measurements of surface temperatures to explore the relationship between what we can remotely sense and what the actual heat content of a lake is below the surface. The research goal is to use satellite-based estimates of seasonal lake surface temperature as -an indicator of changes in the temperature and heat content of. large lakes in North America. Tracking this indicator over time could reveal changes in the thermal content of lakes related to changes in meteorological conditions and thereby act as an indicator of climate change.
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| PRESENTATION |
Emerging Pollutants, Mass Spectrometry, and Communicating Science: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment |
05/27/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Emerging Pollutants, Mass Spectrometry, and Communicating Science: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment. Presented at ASMS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, May 27-31, 2001.
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Historically fundamental to amassing our understanding of environmental processes and chemical pollution is the realm of mass spectrometry (MS) - the mainstay of analytical
chemistry - the workhorse that supplies definitive data that environmental scientists and engineers reply upon for identifying molecular compositions (and ultimately structures) of chemicals. While the power of MS has long been visible to the practicing environmental chemist, it borders on obscurity to the lay public and many scientists. While MS has played a long,
historic (and largely invisible) role in establishing our knowledge of environmental processes and pollution, what recognition it does enjoy is usually relegated to that of a tool. It is usually the relevance or significance of the knowledge acquired from the application of the tool that has ultimate meaning to the public and science at large - not how the data were acquired.
Methods (736/800):
Mass Spectrometry and the "Risk Paradigm": The process of protecting human and ecological health from chemical hazards is rooted in assessing and controlling chemical risks - a process comprising many interrelated steps (e.g., environmental occurrence, fate and transport, establishing exposure, effects markers, identifying sources, developing remediation/control technology). Mass spectrometry plays a critical, direct role in all of them (except the actual step of assessing risk). Mass spectrometry is essential to collecting environment occurrence data (identities and concentrations), establishing fate and transport, exposure (including measurement of biomarkers), effects (including receptor interactions and metabolites), and finally, measuring the effectiveness of mitigation, mediation, and engineered treatment measures and technologies.
Preliminary data (1995/2000):
Communicating Science: Often absent in the scientist's quest to advance our understanding of the chemical world is a concerted effort to explain to non-specialists the importance of analytical tools - their unique abilities and what they can do. An imperative in the future health of a scientific discipline is the "marketing" of its worth and ensuring that it has a measurable impact - or OUTCOME. Historically, the value of environmental chemistry has focused on establishing a fundamental understanding of environmental principles. A re-focus on elucidating "emerging" issues (proactive vs. reactive science) can improve the visibility of mass spectrometry. This presentation discusses the co-issues of emerging pollutants and communicating our science by using as an example the still-developing topic of pharmaceuticals as environmental contaminants.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors: Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment Multidimensional Science Issues Relevant to Regulatory Considerations |
03/09/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors: Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment Multidimensional Science Issues Relevant to Regulatory Considerations. Presented at The Tulane Institute for Environmental Law and Policy: "Environment 2001: Law, Science and the Public Interest", New Orleans, LO, March 9-11, 2001.
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Perhaps more so than with any other class of anthropogenic chemicals, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) in the environment highlights the immediate, intimate, and inseparable connection between the personal activities of individual citizens and their environment. PPCPS, in contrast to other types of environmental contaminants, owe their origins in the environment directly to their worldwide, universal, frequent, highly dispersed, and individually small but cumulative usage by multitudes of individuals - as opposed to the larger, highly delineated, and more-controllable industrial manufacturing/usage of most high-volume synthetic chemicals.
PPCPs are a diverse group of chemicals, used internally or externally with the bodies of humans and domestic animals (and agricultural plants), comprising a wide spectrum of chemical classes. In very general terms, PPCPs include: o- drugs (available by prescription or over-the-counter; including the new genre of "biologics"), - diagnostic agents (e.g., X-ray contrast media), P, "nutraccuticals" (bioactive food supplements such as huperzine A), and - other consumer chemicals, such as fragrances (e.g., synthetic musks)'and sun-screen agents (e.g., methylbenzylldene camphor); also included are - "excipients" (so-called "inert" ingredients used in PPCP manufacturing and formulation); the universe of included chemicals is expanded yet further by the numerous environmental transformation products (many of these "daughter" products can also be bioactive) that can be created from each parent compound. In addition to the better known antimicrobials and steroids, over 50 individual PPCPs or metabolites (from more than 10 broad classes of therapeutic agents or personal care products) had been identified [as of 1999; see Environ. Health Perspect. 1999, 107(suppl 6), 907-93 8] in environmental samples (mainly in sewage, surface, and ground waters). It is important to note that although a number of representatives from small subsets of therapeutic classes have been identified in the environment, numerous members of most classes have yet to be searched for. Many- of these unreported drugs are among the most widely prescribed in the U.S.
Many PPCPs (as well as their metabolites and transformation products) can enter the environment following ingestion or application by the user or administration to domestic animals. Disposal of unused/!expired PPCPs in landfills and to domestic sewage is another route to the environment. The aquatic environment probably serves as the major, ultimate receptacle for these chemicals, for which little is known with respect to actual - or-even potential - adverse effects. Domestic sewage treatment facilities were never specifically designed to remove PPCPS, and the efficiencies with which they are removed vary from nearly complete to ineffective. While PPCPs in the environment (or domestic drinking water) are not regulated, and even though their concentrations are extremely low (ng/L-ug/L) and far below "therapeutic thresholds", the consequences of exposure to multiple compounds having different as well as similar (cumulative) modes of action over multiple generations prompts a plethora of questions, many of which impact discussions regarding regulatory significance. While the environmental issues involved with antibiotics (development of pathogen resistance.) and sex steroids ("endocrine disruption") are the most widely recognized, numerous other therapeutic and consumer-use classes of PPCPs pose environmental questions.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Environmental Technology Verification (Etv) Program Striving to Achieve Acceptance of Innovative Environmental Technologies |
06/10/2001
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Koglin, E. N. The Environmental Technology Verification (Etv) Program Striving to Achieve Acceptance of Innovative Environmental Technologies. Presented at 2001 International Containment & Remediation Technology Conference and Exhibition, Orlando, FL, June 10-13, 2001.
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| Abstract:
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview Pollution from Personal Actions, Activites, and Behaviors |
06/24/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview Pollution from Personal Actions, Activites, and Behaviors. Presented at Geological Society of America & Geological Society of London, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 24-28, 2001.
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Perhaps more so than with any other class of pollutants, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment highlights the immediate, intimate, and inseparable connection between the personal activities of individual citizens and their environment. PPCPs, in contrast to other types of pollutants, owe their origins in the environment directly to their worldwide, universal, frequent, highly dispersed, and individually small but cumulative usage by multitudes of individuals ? as opposed to the larger, highly delineated, and more controllable industrial manufacturing/usage of most high-volume synthetic chemicals.
Many PPCPs can enter the environment following ingestion or application by the user or administration to domestic animals. Disposal of unused/expired PPCPs in landfills and in domestic sewage is another route to the environment. The aquatic environment serves as the major, ultimate receptacle for these chemicals, for which little is known with respect to actual or potential adverse effects. Domestic sewage treatment plants are not specifically engineered to remove PPCPs, and the efficiencies with which they are removed vary from nearly complete to ineffective. While PPCPs in the environment (or domestic drinking water) are not regulated, and even though their concentrations are extremely low (ng/L- g/L), the consequences of exposure over multiple generations to multiple compounds having different as well as similar modes of action prompts a plethora of questions. While the environmental issues involved with antibiotics and sex steroids are the most widely recognized, numerous other therapeutic and consumer-use classes of PPCPs pose additional environmental concerns.
While the occurrence of PPCPs in the environment is not new (undoubtedly having taken place ever since any given PPCP has enjoyed commercial use), the continual advancement in the capabilities of analytical chemistry to identify ever-lower concentrations (and increasing polarities) of pollutants has elucidated the issue only over the last decade or so. The U.S. EPA and other U.S. federal and state agencies are just beginning to consider the many scientific issues involved with this multifaceted environmental concern.
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| PRESENTATION |
A Proposal for a Ccms/Nato Pilot Study on the Use of Landscape Sciences in Environmental Assessment |
03/22/2001
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Kutz, F. W. AND W. G. Kepner. A Proposal for a Ccms/Nato Pilot Study on the Use of Landscape Sciences in Environmental Assessment. Presented at CCMS/NATO pilot study on the use of landscape sciences in environmental assessment, Brussels, Belguim, March 22-23, 2001.
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The United States Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with other Federal and State agencies, has developed through its research programs various landscape science approaches to environmental assessment. These approaches include both landscape characterization (land cover/land use mapping) and ecological (landscape indicator) techniques. These new developments have been made possible through the use of remotely-sensed data from aerial photography and satellite images coupled with sophisticated computer applications. Landscape approaches require a multi-disciplinary perspective and reflect a convergence of geography, ecology and other sciences. Many scientists and environmental managers believe that these landscape approaches will be the "wave of the future" for environmental protection and preservation in the 21 st century.
Landscape metrics or indicators are calculated by combining various scientific databases using technologies from geographic information systems. These metrics facilitate the understanding that events that might occur in one ecosystem or resource can affect the conditions of many other adjacent and distant systems. Some important aspects of environmental change occur at broad spatial scales of whole landscapes, and these cannot always be detected in small-scale studies. For example, the condition of a forest has a direct effect on the condition of streams that flow through the forest. Forests in poor condition because of disease- and insect-induced defoliation and other stresses will export higher nutrient and sediment loads into streams than forests in healthy condition. Additionally, the, shape, size and condition of natural resources have a direct bearing on their intrinsic plant and animal communities which they support and adjacent communities which might be dependent upon them for some part of their development.
Landscape research has progressed to a stage where these approaches can be used to conduct ecological monitoring and assessments on areas of different sizes, particularly very large geographic regions (O'Neill et al. 1997). Examples of the application of this approach are contained in two landscape atlases focused on the mid-Atlantic area of the United States (Riitters et al. 1996 and Jones et al. 1997). Landscape atlases of other geographic areas of the United States have been prepared (Heggem et al. 1999).
The proposal is to establish a working group representative of member Nations and Partners, to exchange information about landscape approaches useful for environmental assessment and to transfer landscape technologies to member Nations for use in environmental protection and preservation programs. This pilot study would be advantageous for NATO members considering the vast experience that they have developed in remote sensing.
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| PRESENTATION |
Oxidized Nitrogen Deposition in the Eastern United States |
10/14/2001
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Sickles II, J. E. Oxidized Nitrogen Deposition in the Eastern United States. Presented at N2001; 2nd Nitrogen Conference, Potomac, MD, October 14-18, 2001.
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Air quality and selected meteorological parameters have been monitored at rural sites in the United States (US) by EPA's Clean Air Status and Trends Network, (CASTNet) sites. The National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP) monitors wet deposition of numerous ions in precipitation. The current study examines air quality and both dry and wet deposition of oxidized nitrogen data from the CASTNet and NADP archives for the ten-year period between 1990 and 1999 at rural sites located in the eastern US. Archived weekly determinations of airborne nitric acid and nitrate concentrations their dry deposition, and wet nitrate deposition are considered. In the current study several geographical -regions have been defined within the eastern US for examination (e.g., Midwest, South, and Northeast), Both the regional (spatial) distribution and the seasonal behavior of concentration and deposition are emphasized.
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| PRESENTATION |
Epic's New Remote Sensing Data and Information Tools Available for EPA Customers |
03/20/2001
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Garofalo, D. Epic's New Remote Sensing Data and Information Tools Available for EPA Customers. Presented at Above & Beyond 2001, An EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 20-21, 2001.
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EPIC's New Remote Sensing Data and Information Tools Available for EPA Customers Donald Garofalo Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) Landscape Ecology Branch Environmental Sciences Division National Exposure Research Laboratory
Several new tools have recently been developed by the Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center to provide our EPA customers with detailed information on our data and report holdings; improved access to information regarding our research and development activities; information regarding our technical support products and services and applications of these to specific EPA requirements; and an information and training tool which presents the fundamentals of remote sensing.
Specifically, these tools include: 1) an electronic database on CD-ROM which allows all users to search the EPIC report archive of more than 4,000 site-characterization reports completed by EPIC over the past twenty-seven years and to access a wealth of information and metadata about each report; 2) a new remote sensing website just completed this past September which contains descriptions of our current R&D projects and technical support activities, products and services available, fact sheets describing a broad range of remote sensing applications to specific EPA needs, a sample interactive EPIC photo analysis report, a new product/service order form, and hyperlinks to remote sensing tutorials for those who wish to learn more about the technology and how it works; and 3) an EPIC-produced remote sensing training CD-ROM which describes the fundamentals of both analog (aerial photography) and digital remote sensing.
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| PRESENTATION |
Impervious Surfaces and Streamflow Discharge: A Historical Remote Sensing Perspective in a Mid-Atlantic Sub-Watershed |
03/19/2001
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Jennings, D. B. AND S. T. Jarnagin. Impervious Surfaces and Streamflow Discharge: A Historical Remote Sensing Perspective in a Mid-Atlantic Sub-Watershed. Presented at EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Above and Beyond, Las Vegas, NV, March 19-20, 2001.
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Aerial photography provides a historical vehicle for determining long term urban landscape change and, with concurrent daily streamflow and precipitation records, allows the historical relationship of impervious surfaces and streamflow to be explored. Impervious surface area in the upper Accotink Ceek subwatershed was mapped from six dates of rectified historical aerial photography ranging from 1949 to 1994. Results show that anthropogenic impervious surface area has grown from approximately 3% in 1949 to 33% in 1994. Coincident to this time period, analysis of historical mean daily streamflow rate shows a statistically significant increase in standardized streamflow discharge rates (per meter of precipitation) associated with "normal"
and "extreme" daily precipitation thresholds. Simultaneously, the magnitude and frequency of "normal" and "extreme" precipitation events show no statistically significant change. Historical changes in streamflow discharge rate in this basin appear to be related to increases in impervious surface cover, Historical aerial photography is a viable tool for revealing long-term landscape and ecosystem relationships, and allows landscape investigations to extend beyond the temporal and spatial constraints of historical satellite remote sensing data.
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| PRESENTATION |
High Spatial Resolution Satellite Remote Sensing for Planning and Locating Animal Feeding Operations |
03/19/2001
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Garofalo, D. AND D. B. Jennings. High Spatial Resolution Satellite Remote Sensing for Planning and Locating Animal Feeding Operations. Presented at EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Above and Beyond, Las Vegas, NV, March 19-20, 2001.
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Surface runoff of animal waste and its infiltration into groundwater can pose a number of risks to water quality mainly because of the amount of animal manure and wastewater they produce. Excess nutrients from livestock facilities can lead to groundwater and soil contamination, algal blooms and anoxic water conditions, shellfish bed contamination, loss of water recreation activities, and possibly fish kills and human health dangers. The EPA is aware of this environmental risk and is addressing it with the USDA/USEPA Joint Unified National Strategy on Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs), revised effluent guidelines for feedlots, and revised CAFO permitting requirements.
Developing a cost-effective approach for locating and studying existing AFO's over a broad regional area is a first step for determining the spatial relationships between these facilities and water quality. A system which is capable of identifying and inventorying existing facilities and determining their geographic location and distribution with regard to other landscape conditions such as drainage, geology, soils, slope and vegetation, should provide important insight for assisting farmers and planners in reducing the environmental risks associated with existing and future animal feeding operations, respectively.
Our research focuses on the use of high spatial resolution IKONOS satellite data for: 1) detecting animal feeding operations; and 2) assessing landscapes associated with these operations. The research will also determine the cost-effectiveness of using this new tool versus other high spatial resolution remote sensing data such as aerial photographs.
Duplin County, North Carolina is our study area. The 1997 Census of Agriculture reports over 2 million swine present in Duplin County with approximately one out of every three farms associated with swine production. Past studies have linked problems of excessive nutrients in the Cape Fear watershed to these AFO operations. For this investigation, emphasis is placed upon building a quadrangle sized prototype (7.5'x 7.5', USGS quadrangle size) in a location where animal feedlots have a known presence and where an available archive of alternative remote sensing sources is known to exist. Additionally, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has a comprehensive inventory with latitude and longitude information which can be utilized for accuracy assessment purposes.
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| PRESENTATION |
Assessing the Water Quality of Mine-Impacted Streams Using Hyperspectral Data |
03/20/2001
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Williams, D. J. Assessing the Water Quality of Mine-Impacted Streams Using Hyperspectral Data. Presented at Above & Beyond 2001, An EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 20-21, 2001.
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Streoan degradation by mining activities is a wide spread problem in the eastern US. Drainage from coal and ferrous metal mines can produce large quantities of sediment and acidity, which can have a deleterious impact an receiving waters. The mineralogy of these sediments is complex and the poorly crystalline nature of these minerals makes their characterization difficult. Toxic trace elements readily partition onto these minerals making the sediments a potentially hazardous material. These minerals form under predictable geochemical conditions, so by identifying the minerals residing in the streams, an estimation of the stream water quality can be made. Remote sensing can be an efficient method for landscape scale determinations of mine drainage in impacted areas. Hyperspectral data obtained by the HyMap sensor was used to analyze mine-drainage impacted waters in Ducktown, Tennessee, USA. Water and sediment samples as well as field based spectral measurements were obtained from the Ocoee River and its mine-impacted tributaries. The mineralogy of the sediment samples was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and reflectance spectroscopy. Mine-drainage sediments occurring in low pH, high dissolved sulfate waters were composed of schwertmannite and goethite, while waters having near neutral pH values produced ferrihydrite. Field and laboratory reflectance spectra were used to create a spectral library database for automated image classification. The spectral signatures of the mine drainage minerals correlated to the pH of the source water (r2:: 0.87). The water quality (pH and dissolved sulfate) of the streams was then estimated by mapping the distribution of minerals occurring in the streams.
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| PRESENTATION |
Digital Image Analysis Reports: the Conversion of Epic's Traditional Site Characterization Product |
03/19/2001
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Jennings, D. B. AND L. Mata. Digital Image Analysis Reports: the Conversion of Epic's Traditional Site Characterization Product. Presented at EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Above and Beyond, Las Vegas, NV, March 19-20, 2001.
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Over the past several years EPIC has been exploring the practicality and cost-effectiveness of providing its traditional hard-copy report product in digital form. This conversion has a number of practical uses including- 1) compatibility for use as data layers in a GIS; 2) transportability and accessibility of CD-ROM product for use in the field by On-Scene Coordinators; 3) transforming the hard-copy archive to digital form for ease of storage, exchange and safety; and, 4) accessibility to digital data by EPA customers over the EPA intranet. We have tested various digital formats for this product including: 1) a geo-registered GIS- based product in ARC format; 2) a hypertext linked document (html); and, 3) a pdf formatted product. Each of these has advantages and drawbacks. The ability to link narrative descriptions and analysis with the associated ground features, interactive capability for image manipulation by the user as well as freeware software are basic capabilities desired for the digital format. The ideal product should allow the user to move around the document and access information in the manner that a reader of the hard-copy report would manually access the textual narrative, view the images chronologically, and view the image analysis as presented on the overlays. Currently, our work has not identified software that seamlessly integrates all of these necessary capabilities. In addition, critical to any analog-to-digital conversion effort is the cost-benefit of the new product.
The views expressed here are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The manuscript was prepared by scientists in EPAs Office of Research and Development (ORD) and has been administratively reviewed and approved for publication. Mention of trade names does not constitute endorsement or recommendation.
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| PRESENTATION |
An Overview of the EPA Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (Epic) |
03/20/2001
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Slonecker, E. T. An Overview of the EPA Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (Epic). Presented at Above and Beyond 2001, An EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 20-21, 2001.
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The EPA Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) supports the EPA Regions and Program Offices with remote sensing based technical support and research and development products. Since 1972, EPIC has provided both imagery and imagery-derived products to the EPA community that have included aerial photographs, satellite imagery, analytical reports, emergency response support, topographic and specialized mapping products, GIS and GPS data, and land use and land cover mapping products. These have included products derived from standard sources, such Landsat Imagery and the USGS National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP), as well as, a variety of products derived from classified National Technical Means (NTM). EPIC is also part of the Office of Research and Development and conducts remote-sensing related research. This presentation will show examples of EPIC's products and services and show examples of on-going remote sensing related research. Also discussed will be those projects and services directly relating to land use and land cover activities.
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| PRESENTATION |
Results from the Mountain Acid Deposition Program |
07/15/2001
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Isil, S., T. L. Lavery, C. Rogers, AND R. E. Baumgardner. Results from the Mountain Acid Deposition Program. Presented at Second International Conference on Fog and Fog Collection, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, July 15-20, 2001.
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The Mountain Acid Deposition Program (MADPro) was initiated in 1993 as part of the research necessary to support the objectives of the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet), which was created to address the. requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA). The main objectives of MADPro were to. develop automated cloudwater measurement systems and to update the cloudwater concentrations and deposition data collected in the Appalachian Mountains during the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) in the 1980.Measurements were conducted from 1994 through 1999 during the warm season at three permanent mountaintop sampling stations: Whiteface Mountain, New York. Clingman's Dome, Tennessee; and Whitetop Mountain, Virginia Cloudwater concentrations (normalized with respect to liquid water content) of major ions (SO2/4, NO3, NH4, and H) showed statistically significant results for all three sites; Clingman's Dome showed an increase for a11 four ions for both normalized and non-normalized concentrations; Whitcface Mountain results showed a significant decrease forNH'4 and SO 1/4 for both normalized and non-normalized concentrations; and Whitetop Mountain normalized concentrations exhibited a significant increase for SO3/4 only. Clingmun's Dome excited the highest mean and median 6-year (I 994 to 1999) average concentrations for the four major ions, whereas Whiteface Mountain consistently had the lowest mean and median concentrations for these ions. Cloudwater deposition estimates were made, by applying the cloudwater depositioncomputer model.CLOUD, parameterized with site-specific cloudwater cbemistry and meteorological data. Monthly cloudwater depositionestimates were highly variable with deposition values typically peaking in luly or August. Seasonal depositionamounts were highest for Whiteface Mountain because of the higher wind speeds and liquid water content 0LWC) experienced at this site, No temporal tread was evident in the deposition estimates. Dry, wet, and cloud deposition estimates were calculated on a monthly basis As for June through September for 1994 through 1998 at all three sites. Between 80 and 90 percent of sulfur (S) deposition occurred via cloud exposure at all three sites as did 70 to 87 percent of the total H loading. Cloud deposition was also responsible foy 90 to 95 percentof NW+/4 deposition at the southern sites. Dry deposition was a very minor contributor to the total S and NH+/4 Ioading,but contributed between 22 and 28 percent of nitrogen (N) deposition and approximately 16 percent of H depositionat the southern sites. In comparison to nearby low-elevation CASTNet sites, total deposition values from MADPro sites were approximately 6 to 20 times greater for- S, N and NH, while H depositions were from 1.3 to 10 times greater. Dry deposition values from MADPre sites for S, N, and H fall within the range of dry deposition values for CASTNet sites, Wet deposition values for all three species were generally I to 3 times higher at the CASTNet sites. Thus, the difference in total deposition between MADPro and CASTNet sites is directly attributable to cloud deposition.
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| PRESENTATION |
Partial Least Square Analyses for Association of Landscape Metrics With Water Biological and Chemical Properties in the Savannah River Basin |
05/14/2001
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Nash, M. S. AND D. J. Chaloud. Partial Least Square Analyses for Association of Landscape Metrics With Water Biological and Chemical Properties in the Savannah River Basin. Presented at 14th EPA Conference on Statistics and Information, Philadelphia, PA, May 14-17, 2001.
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Surface water quality is related to conditions in the surrounding geophysical environment, including soils, landcover, and anthropogenic activities. A number of statistical methods may be used to analyze and explore relationships among variables. Single-, multiple- and multivariate regression analyses have been used to relate water nutrient concentrations to selected landscape metries. Partial Least Square (PLS) is a multivariate analysis used to explore relations between two data sets and predict variability for each data set. PLS is a predictive model that can be used for prediction of dependent variables in new locations when the independent variables are measured and especially if they are highly correlated. In this study, three distinct data sets were used: water chemistry (Chem) from point sites, water biology (Bio) from stream reaches centered around the point sites, and landscape metrics (LS) generated for the drainage areas to the point sites. The landscape-biota model indicated three major contributing variables: the LS variable Slope greater than 3 percent (Slope3), the Bio variable EPT (an indicator of three microinvertebrate genera), and the Bio variable NE-richness (an index of microinvertebrate species richness). Within this model, the LS variable percent of erodible soil was the second highest LS contributor, with a negative relationship to the Bio variables.
The analysis indicated increased slope (indicating complex topography, generally occurring in the mountainous areas of the Savannah River Basin) is associated with increased microinvertebrate quality, while the percentage of watershed with highly erodible soils is associated with declines in aquatic biota quality.
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| PRESENTATION |
Using Cononical Correlation to Detect Association of Landscape Metrics With Water Biological and Chemical Properties in Savannah River Basin |
03/20/2001
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Chaloud, D. J. AND M. S. Nash. Using Cononical Correlation to Detect Association of Landscape Metrics With Water Biological and Chemical Properties in Savannah River Basin. Presented at Above & Beyond 2001, An EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 20-21, 2001.
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Surface water quality is related to conditions in the surrounding geophysical environment, including soils, landcover, and anthropogenic activities. For example, clearing vegetation exposes soil to increased water/wind erosion, resulting in increased sediment loads to surface waters. Nutrients, from crops and animal feedlots, may be transported to surface waters by runoff. Man's activities, from dam building and road construction to growth of cities. and industrial pollution, can profoundly impact surface water chemical, physical, and biological qualities. A number of statistical methods may be used to analyze and explore relationships among variables. Single- and multiple-regression analysis has frequently been used to relate water nutrient concentrations to selected landscape rnetrics (Jones et. al., In Press; Mehaffey et. al.,In Press). Canonical correlation, however, is better suited to exploring the relationships among two or more distinct data sets to describe their association and connection to the physical environment. In this study, three distinct data sets were used: water chemistry (Chem) from point sites, water biology (Bio) from stream reaches centered around the point sites, and landscape metrics (LS) generated for the drainage areas to the point sites. The Chem and Bio data sets were produced under the Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (Remap) and were provided by U.S. EPA Region IV. The strength of the linear relationship between the first canonical variates for the LS&Bio was 0.69, LS&Chem was 0.75 and Bio&Chem was 0.60. Total amount of variance that shared and predicted by data sets of LS&Bio was 60%, LS&Chem was 68%, and Bio&Chem was 61%. Of that total amount, the fitted model of LS&Bio accounted for 78%, LS&Chem accounted for 92% and Bio&Chem accounted for 98%. The landscape-biota model indicated three major contributing variables: the LS variable Slope greater than 3 percent (Slope3), the Bio variable EPT (an indicator of three rnicroinvertebrate genera), and the Bio variable NE-richness (an index of microinvertebrate species richness). Within this model, the LS variable percent row crop was the second highest LS contributor, with a negative relationship to the Bio variables. Slope3 was also the major contributing LS variable in the landscape-chemistry model; the major Chem contributing variable in this model was dissolved oxygen (DO). In the chemistry-biota model, EPT and M -richness were again the major contributing Bio variables, while conductivity and pH were the major contributing Chem variables, with conductivity negatively related to biota. These analyses indicated increased slope (indicating complex topography, generally occurring in the mountainous areas of the Savannah River Basin) is associated with increased microinvertebrate quality and higher DO concentrations, while the percentage of landeover in row crops is associated with increased conductivity and declines in aquatic biota quality.
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| PRESENTATION |
In Situ Solid-Phase Extraction and Analysis of Ultra-Trace Synthetic Musks in Municipal Sewage Effluent Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Full-Scan Mode |
10/08/2001
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Osemwengie, L. I. AND S. Steinberg. In Situ Solid-Phase Extraction and Analysis of Ultra-Trace Synthetic Musks in Municipal Sewage Effluent Using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Full-Scan Mode. Presented at 2nd NGWA International Conference, Minneapolis, MN, October 8-11, 2001.
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Fragrance materials, such as synthetic musks in aqueous samples, are normally analyzed by GC/MS in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode to provide maximum sensitivity after liquid-liquid extraction of 1-L samples. A 1-L sample, however, usually provides too little analyte for full-scan data acquisition.We have developed an on-site extraction method for extracting synthetic musks from 60 L of wastewater effluent. Such a large sample volume permits high-quality, full-scan mass spectra to be obtained for various synthetic musk compounds. Quantification of these compounds was conveniently achieved from the full-scan data directly, without preparing SIM descriptors for each compound to acquire SIM data.
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| PRESENTATION |
Electrical Resistivity Variations Associated With Controlled Gasoline Spills |
03/28/2001
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Mazzella, A. T. Electrical Resistivity Variations Associated With Controlled Gasoline Spills. Presented at 36th Annual Engineering Geology & Giotechnical Engineering Symposium, Las Vegas, NV, March 28-30, 2001.
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A number of geophysical surveys were conducted over two controlled releases of about 100 gallons each of gasoline. In order to clearly identify the responses associated with the gasoline plume, measurements were made before, during and after the injection. The two experiments were conducted about three years apart in the same geologic cell at the controlled tank facilities at the Oregon Graduate Institute in Beaverton , OR- The results of high resolution (2.5 cm spacing) downhole electrical resistivity measurements are presented in this paper.
An increase in the electrical resistivity, in the capillary zone above the water table was observed with the injected gasoline plume in both experiments. However, the magnitude and shape of the anomaly were considerably different in the two experiments and appear to be associated with the properties of the capillary zone and history of water infiltration prior to the gasoline injection In order to study longer term responses, measurements were taken 7 months Later m the second experiment. These results proved difficult to interpret because considerable rainfall in the area flooded the cell a number of times, causing movement and smearing of the gasoline plume.
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| PRESENTATION |
Quality Science in the Courtroom: US EPA QA and Peer Review Policies and Procedures Compared to the Daubert Factors |
03/19/2001
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Brilis, G. M., J. Worthington, AND A. D. Wait. Quality Science in the Courtroom: US EPA QA and Peer Review Policies and Procedures Compared to the Daubert Factors. Presented at Association of Environmental Health Sciences and US Navy Eleventh Annual West Coast Conference, San Diego, CA, March 19-22, 2001.
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Protection of the environment is, in part, dependent on the quality of data used in decision making. Whether the decisions are applied to science itself or to the laws governing people and their living conditions, good quality data are expected by two disciplines with distinct differences
This presentation examines some landmark cases in the United States on science in the courtroom, compares the "Daubert Factors" to U.S. EPA peer review and quality assurance guidelines, and presents an outline of quality assurance elements that may be applied to environmental forensic studies in support of enforcement. Web sites for US EPA quality assurance guidance documents will also be given.
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| PRESENTATION |
Performance-Based Measurement Systems Ensuring Data Defensibility |
03/19/2001
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Brilis, G. M. Performance-Based Measurement Systems Ensuring Data Defensibility. Presented at Association of Environmental Health Sciences and US Navy Eleventh Annual West Coast Conference, San Diego, CA, March 19-22, 2001.
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The use of established methods for the analysis of environmental samples procedures has been one factor that courts have used to determine if the science use in the analysis is adequate for the purposes intended. This established "comfort-zone" may be shaken by efforts to approve and use alternate methods.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is actively working to reform the regulatory policy. As part of this program, EPA has been working at breaking down barriers to using new monitoring techniques. One barrier is the requirement to use specific measurement methods or technologies in complying with some of the Agency's regulations. There is broad acceptance for Agency-wide use of a nonprescriptive performance-based measurement system (PBMS).
The evaluation of the method used, the review of results generated by that method and the veracity of the data may be required to undergo a more rigorous evaluation. In this presentation, the author describes PBMS, the intent of PBMS, and outlines a procedure for investigators to use when considering analytical results generated using the PBMS.
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| PRESENTATION |
Spatial Accuracy: A Critical Factor in GIS-Related Activities |
03/19/2001
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Brilis, G. M. Spatial Accuracy: A Critical Factor in GIS-Related Activities. Presented at Association of Environmental Health Sciences and US Navy Eleventh Annual West Coast Conference, San Diego, CA, March 19-22, 2001.
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Onsite analyses are critical to making timely decisions. The results of these decisions may not be realized for many years. In order to increase the value of onsite analyses and to create and utilize meaningful environmental models, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed and implemented a Locational Data Policy (LDP).
The intent of this policy is to extend the usage of environmental analyses and allow data to be integrated into GIS systems based upon location, thereby promoting the enhanced use of EPA's extensive data resources for cross-media environmental analyses and management decisions. The EPA Locational Data Policy applies organizations and personnel of agents (including contractors and grantees) of EPA who design, develop, compile, operate or maintain EPA information collections developed for environmental program support.
The EPA's new initiative, the Geospatial Quality Council, is committed to working with all organizations to ensure that spatially related tools, such as the LDP, are supported. An overview of the EPA GIS-QA Team and primary components of the Locational Data Policy will be presented. Internet sites will be provided for future reference.
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| PRESENTATION |
EPA Geospatial Quality Council |
03/20/2001
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Brilis, G. M. EPA Geospatial Quality Council. Presented at Above & Beyond 2001, An EPA Remote Sensing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 20-21, 2001.
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The EPA Geospatial Quality Council (previously known as the EPA GIS-QA Team - EPA/600/R-00/009 was created to fill the gap between the EPA Quality Assurance (QA) and Geospatial communities. All EPA Offices and Regions were invited to participate. Currently, the EPA Geospatial Quality Council consists of members from the EPA Regional Offices; the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA); the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS); the Office of Water (OW); the new Office of Environmental Information (OEI); and the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The Geospatial Quality Council was established by the Environmental Sciences Division of ORD's National Exposure Research Laboratory.
The mission of the EPA Geospatial-QA program is: to provide Quality Assurance guidance for the development, use, and products of geospatial activities.
The strategic vision of the EPA Geospatial Quality Council represents the team's view of what it will take to effectively accomplish the mission of the EPA Geospatial-QA program. This strategic plan provides a road map for achieving this vision: The EPA Geospatial Quality Council will focus on goals and activities which will:
1. Allow EPA and its constituents to make full use of consistent, high-quality geospatial data as an integral part of the decision-making process;
2. Provide open access and exchange of Geospatial-QA approaches between the Agency, States, other federal agencies, local government, and the public to empower greater participation in decisions affecting environmental management
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| PRESENTATION |
Global Positioning Systems Gps Technology Primer, EPA Policies and Procedures, and QA Consideration |
04/02/2001
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Brilis, G. M. Global Positioning Systems Gps Technology Primer, EPA Policies and Procedures, and QA Consideration. Presented at 20th Annual National Conference on Managing Quality Systems, St. Louis, MO, April 2-6, 2001.
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Onsite analyses are critical to making timely decisions. The results of these decisions may not be realized for many years. in order to increase the value of onsite analyses and to create and utilize meaningful environmental models, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed and implemented a Locational Data Policy (LDP).
The intent of this policy is to extend environmental analyses and allow data to be integrated based upon location, thereby promoting the enhanced use of EPA's extensive data resources for cross-media environmental analyses and management decisions. This policy applies to all EPA organizations and personnel of agents (including contractors and - grantees) of EPA who design, develop, compile, operate or maintain EPA information collections developed for environmental program support.
The EPA's new initiative, the Geospatial Quality Council, is committed to working with all organizations to ensure that spatially related tools, such as the LDP, are supported. A fundamental course of GPS technology and how GPS fits-in to EPA will be presented.
In addition, an overview of the EPA Geospatial Quality Council and primary components of .the Locational Data Policy and a sample of a standard operating procedure for collecting spatial information will be presented. Internet sites will be provided for future reference.
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| PRESENTATION |
How Good Are My Data? Information Quality Assessment Methodology |
04/02/2001
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Brilis, G. M. How Good Are My Data? Information Quality Assessment Methodology. Presented at 20th Annual National Conference on Managing Quality Systems, St. Louis, MO, April 2-6, 2001.
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Quality assurance techniques used in software development and hardware maintenance/reliability help to ensure that data in a computerized information management system are maintained well. However, information workers may not know the quality of the data resident in their information systems.
Knowledge of the quality of the information and data in an enterprise provides managers with unimportant facts for managing and improving the processes.. This paper provides information to assist information workers in planning and implementing effective assessment of information data and quality. The areas covered here include:
identifying appropriate information quality indicators developing assessment procedures
conducting information quality assessments reporting information assessment results
tracking improvements in information quality
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| PRESENTATION |
Regional Trends in Rural Sulfur Dioxide Concentrations Over the Eastern U.S. |
08/13/2001
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Holland, D. M., P. Caragca, AND R. L. Smith. Regional Trends in Rural Sulfur Dioxide Concentrations Over the Eastern U.S. Presented at 23rd European Meeting of Statisticians, Funchal, Portugal, August 13-18, 2001.
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Emission reductions were mandated in the Clean Air Art Amendments of 1990 with the expectation that they would result in corresponding reductions in air pollution. The 1990 amendments include new requirements that appreciably reduced sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions in two phases occurring around 1995 and 2000, The estimation of emission-related trends in S02 concentrations has been the subject of many investigations since the implementation) of national monitoring networks in the late 1970's. Most of these studies focused on developing models either for site-specific trends or for trend in a summary statistic that represents a network-typical value. In recent years, the focus of environmental policy has shifted toward regional-scale strategies that require regional estimates of trimmed for both their development and subsequent evaluation. In an effort to provide meaningful regional trend information, we propose a two-stage modeling app-roach to estimate emission-related trends in rural airborne of S02 for 1990-1998. The first stage uses a linear additive model to estimate site-specific trend, and the second stage uses an extension of classical Kriging methodology to estimate regional trends and standard errors. Finally, Bayesian techniques are used to estimate standard errors to quantify the effect of ignoring the uncertainty of the spatial covariance parameters.
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| PRESENTATION |
Identifying Recent Surface Mining Activities Using a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (Ndvi) Change Detection Method |
05/07/2001
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Yankee, D., R. D. Tankersley, AND F. W. Kutz. Identifying Recent Surface Mining Activities Using a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (Ndvi) Change Detection Method. Presented at 14th Annual Geographic Information Science Conference, Baltimore, MD, May 7-8, 2001.
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Coal mining is a major resource extraction activity on the Appalachian Mountains. The increased size and frequency of a specific type of surface mining, known as mountain top removal-valley fill, has in recent years raised various environmental concerns. During mountaintop removals, huge shovels and dozers shave off entire tops of mountains to reach the valuable coal seams underneath. The rock and earth are placed in the valleys below, burying existing streams. These activities encompass relatively large areas, making identification via satellite imagery feasible.
The purpose of this study is to rapidly identify recent surface mining activity using remotely-sensed data. Using early 1990's raw and classified satellite imagery from the MRLC as our baseline and in conjunction with raw imagery from 1999, we are using a change detection procedure to identify areas that have been mined since the baseline. By looking for drastic changes in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDV4, corresponding to loss of greenness or vegetation, we were able to avoid many of the common problems associated with multi-temporal or change detection studies. The results indicate this is a viable method for rapid determination of recent mining activity. With this information we will estimate the rate at which mountaintop removal is occurring in the Appalachians.
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| PRESENTATION |
Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice): A High Resolution Mass Spectrometric Tool for Identifying Organic Compounds in Complex Extracts of Environmental Samples |
08/26/2001
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Grange, A. H., L. I. Osemwengie, F. A. Genicola, AND G. W. Sovocool. Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice): A High Resolution Mass Spectrometric Tool for Identifying Organic Compounds in Complex Extracts of Environmental Samples. Presented at American Chemical Society, 222st National Meeting, Chicago, IL, August 26-30, 2001.
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Unidentified Organic Compounds. For target analytes, standards are purchased, extraction and clean-up procedures are optimized, and mass spectra and retention times for the chromatographic separation are obtained for comparison to the target compounds in environmental sample extracts. This is an efficient approach and selective extraction and clean-up can decrease detection limits for the target compounds relative to analyzing a raw extract containing compounds that yield mass interferences. But selection of a class of compounds for study ignores many potentially toxic compounds. All compounds should be considered, because even trace amounts of compounds found to be endocrine disrupting chemicals might influence embryonic development. Before the toxicology of the hundreds of compounds found in sewage treatment effluents and water reservoirs can be studied alone and in mixtures, they must first be identified. A given compound might be one of the 3800 high production volume chemicals used commercially, a human or microorganism metabolite of such a compound, a photochemical degradation, hydrolysis, or thermal decomposition product, a chlorination or ozonolysis byproduct for drinking water samples, or a naturally occurring compound. Numerous researchers targeting assorted classes of analytes could easily overlook or be unable to identify many of these compounds. Most non-targeted compounds will not be in mass spectral libraries and can seldom be tentatively identified using low resolution mass spectrometry alone.
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| PRESENTATION |
Analytical Chemistry Research Needs for Mapping Trends of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Product Pollution from Personal Use |
10/21/2001
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JonesLepp, T., D. A. Alvarez, J. D. Petty, L. I. Osemwengie, AND C. G. Daughton. Analytical Chemistry Research Needs for Mapping Trends of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Product Pollution from Personal Use. Presented at 10th Symposium on Handling of Environmental and Biological Samples in Chromatography, Wiesbaden, Germany, April 1-4, 2001.
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The consensus among environmental scientists and risk assessors is that the fate and effects of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPS) in the environment are poorly understood. Many classes of PPCPs have yet to be investigated. Acquisition of trends data for a suite of PPCPs (representatives from each of numerous significant classes), shown to recur amongst municipal wastewater treatment plants across the country, may prove of key importance. The focus of this paper is an overview of some of the analytical methods being developed at the Environmenental Protection Agency and their application to wastewater and surface water samples. Because PPCPs are generally micro-pollutants, emphasis is on development of enrichment and pre- concentration techniques using various means of solid-phase extraction.
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| PRESENTATION |
"EMERGING" Pollutants, Mass Spectrometry, and Communicating Science: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment |
05/27/2001
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Daughton, C. G. "EMERGING" Pollutants, Mass Spectrometry, and Communicating Science: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment. Presented at ASMS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, May 27, 2001.
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A foundation for Environmental Science - Mass Spectrometry: Historically fundamental to amassing our understanding of environmental processes and chemical pollution is the realm of mass spectrometry - the mainstay of analytical chemistry - the workhorse that supplies much of the definitive data that environmental scientists rely upon for identifying the molecular compositions (and ultimately the structures) of chemicals. This is not to ignore the complementary, critical roles played by the adjunct practices of sample enrichment (via any of various means of selective extraction) and analyte separation (via the myriad forms of chromatography and electrophoresis).
While the power of mass spectrometry has long been highly visible to the practicing environmental chemist, it borders on continued obscurity to the lay public and most non-chemists. Even though mass spectrometry has played a long, historic (and largely invisible) role in establishing or undergirdidng our existing knowledge about environmental processes and pollution, what recognition it does enjoy is usually relegated to that of a tool. It is ususally the relevance of ssignificance of the knowledge acquired from the application of the tool that has ultimate meaning to the public and science at large - not how the knowledge was acquired.
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| PRESENTATION |
Assessing Landscape Change and Its Consequences to Ecological Resources at Regional Scales a Case Study from the United States Mid-Atlantic Region |
10/02/2001
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Jones, K. B., A. C. Neale, C. Edmonds, M. S. Nash, AND C. L. Cross. Assessing Landscape Change and Its Consequences to Ecological Resources at Regional Scales a Case Study from the United States Mid-Atlantic Region. Presented at INDEX2001 Conference, Rome, Italy, October 2-5, 2001.
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There is a growing concern about broad-scale changes in landscape features and the consequences of changes on a range of ecological goods and services, including goods and services related to human health and natural systems. The US Environmental Protection Agency has developed a set of methods to assess landscape change, and a set of spatially-distributed models that help evaluate how such changes affect ecological resources and associated processes. The models were developed within the context of potential landscape stressors acting upon ecological processes and resources at multiple scales. The methodologies and resulting assessment took advantage of recent advances in computer and GIS technology, and new regional-scale databases of relatively fine scale (30 meters). In this paper, we highlight methods used to conduct the research and assessment. We also present results of the Mid-Atlantic Region, landscape change assessment.
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| PRESENTATION |
Assessing Arid Riparian Landscapes Using Remote Sensing: the First Step |
03/12/2001
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TallentHalsell, N. G., M. E. Hamilton, L. Bice, AND R. D. Lopez. Assessing Arid Riparian Landscapes Using Remote Sensing: the First Step. Presented at Riparian Habitat and Floodplains Conference, Sacramento, CA, March 12-15, 2001.
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Riparian ecosystems are of great value in the Southwest yet they are also extremely fragile and susceptible to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Riparian ecosystems establish in patterns per the hydrologic and geomorphologic processes that dictate terrestrial plant succession. These patterns may translate into metrics (e.g., size, shape, perimeter-area ratio) that reveal the ecological integrity of the watershed. Southwestern riparian ecosystems, although scattered and isolated, appear as discrete, discernible patches when viewed against the backdrop of the adjacent and uplands. However, when using remote sensing data, spatial resolution imposes the scale at which these patches may be detected. Our research addressed the utility of using remote sensing for detection and characterization of small, scattered riparian patches. We compared the resource and financial costs associated with an inventory of riparian ecosystems in southwestern Arizona across several spatial resolution scales using satellite imagery and aerial photography. In addition, we identified the poorest resolution acceptable to reveal the shape and extent of riparian patches along perennial and intermittent surface waters in these regions. The coarse spatial resolution of satellite imagery (Landsat Multi Spectral Scanner data, resampled to approximate a 60 m x 60 m spatial resolution; Landsat Thematic Mapper, 30 m x 30 m spatial resolution) was adequate for the detection of most riparian ecosystems (due to their sharp spectral reflectance contrast with surrounding desert vegetation) yet inadequate for patch characterization since it exceeded the physical dimensions of the vegetation and distorted the boundaries of riparian patches less than 60 or 30 m' in area. Thus, satellite imagery was used to provide a gross inventory of riparian patches while aerial photographs were still needed to accurately map and delineate the actual
patch characteristics. It is expected that future systems with improved spatial and spectral resolution (e.g., IKONOS, SPIN, Orb-View 3, SPOT 5; e.g., AVIRIS, Hymap and CASI) will provide the fine scale imagery necessary for the calculation of riparian landscape metrics.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors |
11/04/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors. Presented at International Society of Exposure Analysis (ISEA) 2001 Conference - "Exposure Analysis: An Integral Part of Disease Prevention", Charleston, SC, November 4-8, 2001.
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Perhaps more so than with any other class of pollutants, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) in the environment highlights the immediate, intimate, and inseparable connection between the individual activities of consumers and their environment. In contrast to other types of pollutants, PPCPs owe their origins in the environment directly to their worldwide, universal, frequent, highly dispersed, and individually small but aggregate/cumulative usage and disposal by multitudes of individuals. An overview of this multi-faceted issue can be found at a U.S. EPA web site (http://www.epa.gov/nerlesdl/chemistry/pharma/index.htm), which also provides a reprint of a review article published in Environmental Health Perspectives.
PPCPs can enter the environment following their ingestion or application by the user or administration to domestic animals. Disposal of unused/expired PPCPS in landfills and to domestic sewage are additional routes to the environment. Domestic sewage treatment plants are not specifically engineered to remove PPCPS; the efficiencies with which they are removed from sewage vary from nearly complete to ineffective. The aquatic environment serves as the major, ultimate receptacle for most PPCPS. Little is known with respect to actual or even potential adverse effects on non-target species; human exposure via drinking water is poorly defined. While PPCPs in the environment (or domestic drinking water) are not regulated, and even though their concentrations are extremely low (ng/L-gg/L), the consequences of exposure over multiple generations to multitudes of compounds having different as well as similar modes of action prompts a plethora of questions. Although the environmental issues involved with two classes - antibiotics (e.g., selection for pathogen resistance) and sex steroids (e.g., aromatase disruption) - are the most widely recognized, numerous other therapeutic and consumer-use classes of PPCPS pose a wide range of additional and different environmental concerns.
The occurrence of PPCPs in the environment is undoubtedly not a new phenomenon - probably having taken place ever since any given PPCP first enjoyed commercial use. The continual advancement in the capabilities of analytical chemistry enabling identification of ever-lower concentrations (and increasing polarities) of pollutants has brought visibility to the issue only over the last IO years. The U.S. EPA and other U.S. federal and state agencies are just beginning to consider the many scientific aspects.
With respect to the stages of risk-assessment, the best understood dimension is the potential origins of PPCPs in the environment. Geographic distributions and frequencies of occurrence and concentrations are being collected by the USGS, CDC, and other organizations. 'Me dimension that is poorly understood is human health and ecological effects. Although many unknowns surround the significance of human exposure, even more questions concern effects on non-target species. Aquatic life in particular has the highest potential for perpetual exposures to PPCPs since these highly bioactive chemicals can be continually introduced by way of sewage treatment facilities. Compounds ordinarily possessing low environmental half-lives are thereby able to act as persistent pollutants.
Some of the potential concerns surrounding exposure and effects include: Aggregate/cumulative exposure (e.g., analogous to the cholinergic syndrome) to PPCPs sharing like modes of action ("Risk Cup" ramifications for "threshold loadings"; continual disruption of cellular homeostasis and attendant energy costs). Long-term/life-long exposure. Largely unexplored realm regarding effects (e.g., hormetic) from "trace-level" exposure (fM-nM). Subtle, difficult-to-detect effects (e.g., neurobehavioral; community homeostasis). Exposure timing (e.g., profound developmental effects). Unknown mechanisms of action (and poorly documented side effects) in humans for most drugs - even less is known for non-target organisms.
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| PRESENTATION |
An Overview of EPA Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (Epic) |
07/24/2001
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Slonecker, E. T. An Overview of EPA Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (Epic). Presented at National Association of Remedial Project Managers 2001, San Diego, CA, July 24, 2001.
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The EPA Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) supports the EPA Regions and Program Offices with remote sensing based technical support and research and development products. Since 1972, EPIC has provided both imagery and imagery-derived products to the EPA community that have included aerial photographs, satellite imagery, analytical reports, emergency response support, topographic and specialized mapping products, GIS and GPS data, and land use and land cover mapping products. These have included products derived from standard sources, such Landsat Imagery and the USGS National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP), as well as, a variety of products derived from classified National Technical Means (NTM). EPIC is also part of the Office of Research and Development and conducts remote-sensing related research. This presentation will show examples of EPIC's products and services and show examples of on-going remote sensing related research. Also discussed will be those projects and services directly relating to land use and land cover activities.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Role of the Remote Sensing in Identifying Buried World War I Munitions at the American University, Washington, D.C. |
06/24/2001
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Slonecker, E. T. The Role of the Remote Sensing in Identifying Buried World War I Munitions at the American University, Washington, D.C. Presented at National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), Washington, DC, June 24, 2001.
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During World War 1, The American University in Washington D.C. was used by the U.S. Army as an experiment station for the development and testing of a variety of battlefield munitions including chemical weapons such as Mustard Gas, Phosgene, Ricin and Lewisite, among others. After the end of the War in 1918, many of the weapons and chemical agents were haphazardly buried in and around the American University testing area which is now known as Spring Valley. In 1993, chemical-laden mortar shells were accidentally unearthed by a construction crew setting off a series of investigations that, to date, has cost over 40 million dollars and is still on-going. The Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) is supporting the on-going Superfund investigation efforts using remote sensing technology. Both conventional and research applications of remotely sensed imagery, along with GIS database developments, are playing a critical role in the discovery and removal of chemical weapons and contamination in this area. This presentation will document the EPIC's use of historical imagery, GIS, photogrammetry and hyperspectral remote sensing in locating and removing these weapons from the environment.
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| PRESENTATION |
A Sub-Pixel Accuracy Assessment Framework for Determining Landsat Tm Derived Impervious Surface Estimates. |
12/11/2001
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Jennings, D. B., D. J. Williams, AND S. T. Jarnagin. A Sub-Pixel Accuracy Assessment Framework for Determining Landsat Tm Derived Impervious Surface Estimates. Presented at A Remote Sensing and GIS Accuracy Assessment Symposium, Las Vegas, NV, December 11, 2001.
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The amount of impervious surface in a watershed is a landscape indicator integrating a number of concurrent interactions that influence a watershed's hydrology. Remote sensing data and techniques are viable tools to assess anthropogenic impervious surfaces. However a fundamental problem exists with respect to impervious surface determination from coarse resolution data such as LANDSAT TM. The heterogeneous spatial nature of impervious surfaces on the landscape, in concert with the sensor resolution, serves to produce "mixed pixels". This inherent processing problem forces an aggregation of multiple landscape features into general classes such as "high density residenfial", "low density residential", etc. The goal of this research is to ascertain the per pixel impervious surface percent associated with differing methodologies and categories of LANDSAT derived classification maps. The assessment strategy is based on the per pixel correlation of high-resolution data and geo-registered LANDSAT classification data. Metho& involving spatial aggregate and spatial disaggregate processing of raster data are utilized to assess the accuracy of evolving remote sensing classification techniques such as sub-pixel analysis and GIS fusion methods. In addition, these methods can be utilized within an accuracy assessment sampling framework to derive percent imperviousness related to general LANDSAT classification categories (e.g., National Land Cover Data) via post-processing analysis. Spatial aggregation techniques utilize impervious surface data derived from high-resolution . geo-spatial data sets that are resampled into lower resolution cells (e.g., I m to 30m). The high- resolution data is utilized to derive an impervious percent per given 30m cell coincident to the classified LANDSAT data. The classification of the aggregated high-resolution data may then be compared to the classification of the LANDSAT classified data. Spatial disaggregation techniques utilize LANDSAT classified impervious surface data sets that are re-sampled into higher resolution constituent cells (e.g., 30m to I m) while maintaining the same class attribute. These re-sampled high-resolution cells are then compared to a truth dataset derived from higher resolution data on a pixel-to-pixel level or by utilizing a sampling window if co-registration errors are a concern. For this study, we obtained several independent impervious surface and general land use/land cover classification datasets derived from LANDSAT TM data. Truth data was derived from large-scale aerial photography and rasterized county-level GIS parcel layers. Accuracy for either the aggregate or disaggregate approach may be derived from 1) a standard contingency matrix, 2) a correlation of coincident pixels or 3) a total impervious percent per geographic unit (e.g., watershed).
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| PRESENTATION |
Sample Selection of Mrlc's Nlcd Land Cover Data for Thematic Accuracy Assessment |
07/09/2001
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Wickham, J. D. AND T. G. Wade. Sample Selection of Mrlc's Nlcd Land Cover Data for Thematic Accuracy Assessment. Presented at 2001 ESRI Conference Software Application Fair, San Diego, CA, July 9-13, 2001.
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The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) consortium was formed in the early 1990s to cost- effectively acquire Landsat TM satellite data for the conterminous United States. One of the MRLC's objectives was to develop national land-cover data (NLCD) for the conterminous United States. The NLCD data set was completed in early 2000. The land-cover categories were based on the Anderson et al. (1976) thematic classification system. An important and final step in land-cover mapping is development of accuracy estimates (Scepan 1999). A national-scale accuracy assessment poses several challenges for meeting the criteria of a well-constructed probability-based sampling design: 1) non-zero and known inclusion probabilities for each pixel, 2) sufficient samples for each land-cover class to pemit estimates of variance and hence precision of each class' accuracy, and 3) cost-effective collection of reference data (Stehnian 2001). Perhaps the most challenging of these is cost- effectiveness. A two-stage cluster sampling design was adopted in order to cost-effectively collect reference data and also satisfy the other criteria of a well-constructed sampling design. A two-stage cluster design splits a region into nested geographic partitions for collection of reference data. For NLCD, the partitions are: 1) a geographic stratum, 2) primary sampling units (PSUs), and 3) 30-meter pixels. Accuracy estimates are based on agreement between map and reference classifications for the 30-meter pixels. The nesting of 30-meter pixels within PSUs and PSUs within a geographic stratum provide the framework for random selection of samples (30-meter pixels). The sampling design partitions each mapping region into a geographic stratum with straum cells of AxB dimensions. Each stratum cell is then further subdivided into PSUs of equal size. One PSU is selected at random from each stratum cell, and then I 00 sample elements (pixels) from each land-cover class are selected at random from within the randomly drawn PSUs. For NLCD accuracy assessments, the geographic stratum cell size is 6Ox3O km, and PSUs are 6x6 km (i.e., each PSU is a 2% sample of a stratum cell). The two-stage cluster design has significant cost advantages. Sample elements are drawn only within selected PSUs and cannot occur elsewhere within the entire region.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors |
11/05/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors. Presented at Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, November 5-8, 2001.
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Perhaps more so than with any other class of pollutants, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) in the environment highlights the immediate, intimate, and inseparable connection between the individual activities of consumers and their environment. In contrast to other types of pollutants, PPCPs owe their origins in the environment directly to their worldwide, universal, frequent, highly dispersed, and individually small but aggregate/cumulative usage and disposal by multitudes of individuals. An overview of this multi-faceted issue can be found at a U.S. EPA web site (http://www.epa.gov/nerlesdl/chemistry/pharma/index.htm), which also provides a reprint of an Environmental Health Perspectives review article.
PPCPs can enter the environment via excreta or wash water following their ingestion or application by the user or administration to domestic animals. Direct disposal of unused/expired PPCPs in landfills and domestic sewage is an additional route to the environment. Domestic sewage treatment plants are not specifically engineered to remove PPCPS; removal efficiencies vary from nearly complete to ineffective. The aquatic and groundwater environments serve as the major, ultimate receptacles for most PPCPS.
Little is known with respect to actual or even potential adverse effects on non-target species; human exposure via drinking water is poorly defined. While PPCPs in the environment (or drinking water) are not regulated, and even though their concentrations are extremely low (ng/L-ug/L), the consequences of exposure over multiple generations to multitudes of compounds having different as well as similar modes of action prompts a plethora of questions. Although the environmental issues involved with two classes - antibiotics (e.g., selection for pathogen resistance) and sex steroids (e.g., aromatase disruption in fish) - are widely recognized, numerous other therapeutic and consumer-use classes of PPCPS pose a wide range of additional environmental concerns.
The occurrence of PPCPs in the environment is undoubtedly not a new phenomenon - probably having taken place ever since any given PPCP first enjoyed commercial use. The U.S. EPA and other federal/state agencies are just beginning to consider the many scientific aspects of this wide-ranging topic.
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| PRESENTATION |
Use of National Technical Means for International Emergency Response |
07/23/2001
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Jarnagin, S. T., E. T. Slonecker, AND J. J. van Ee. Use of National Technical Means for International Emergency Response. Presented at Civil Applications Committe (CAC) course "National Technical Means 102", Denver, CO, July 24-26, 2001.
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In the summer of 2000, residents of the Mykolayiv Oblast region of southern Ukraine reported an outbreak of mysterious symptoms. Media reports of a mass poisoning of residents of villages near Boleslavehyk and findings of soil and ground water contaminated with "products of the decomposition of liquid rocket fuel" were intermixed with denials by military authorities that any spill or accident had ever occurred in the region. The Ukrainian government turned to outside sources of support and in September 2000, scientists from the Environment Protection Agency and the Center for Disease Control arrived in Ukraine to help the former Soviet republic investigate the case.
This poster illustrates how National Technical Means (NTM) were used to pinpoint the location and bracket the date of an accident adjacent to a Soviet-era missile facility. We then used a non-classified SPOT image to create map product that showed the location of the area of suspected contamination. This map product could be used for general release. This research illustrates how NTM products can be used to meet the needs of international emergency environmental response.
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| PRESENTATION |
Integrating Indicators of Ecological Condition, Stressor Exposure, and Quality of Life Towards An Assessment of Regional Vulnerability |
10/02/2001
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Smith, E. R., R. V. O'Neill, L. T. Tran, AND M. O'Connell. Integrating Indicators of Ecological Condition, Stressor Exposure, and Quality of Life Towards An Assessment of Regional Vulnerability. Presented at 3rd International Congress on Environmental indices and indicators: Systems analysis approach INDEX2001: Quality of Life Indiework, Rome, Italy, October 2-5, 2001.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection's Regional Vulnerability Assessment (REVA) Program is developing and evaluating approaches to integrate information on environmental condition, estimated stressor exposures, and quality of life indicators so that regional risks can be prioritized and risk reduction activities can be targeted. As part of EPA's efforts to improve ecological risk assessment methodologies, REVA is focusing on the assessment of multiple stressors affecting multiple resources over a multi-state region. The research is designed to address the questions of 1) which ecosystems in a region are at the greatest risk?, 2) which stressors pose the greatest risk?, and 3) how are these risks likely to change in the future?. Using primarily existing data and model results, and considering the need to include estimates of error and uncertainty , REVA is exploring a variety of statistical and other techniques to synthesize information into relative rankings of vulnerability that are meaningful to decision-makers. These techniques include development of a weighted sums index, weight of evidence methods, multivariate statistics, fuzzy set theory, and decision theory. Decision support tools that utilize these approaches are under development and will be evaluated as to their suitability for addressing different environmental management questions.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Role of Remote Sensing in Identifying Buried World War I Munitions at the American University, Washington, D.C. |
08/09/2001
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Slonecker, E. T. The Role of Remote Sensing in Identifying Buried World War I Munitions at the American University, Washington, D.C. Presented at Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) meeting EPA Region 3, Hall of the states, Washington, DC, August 9, 2001.
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During World War 1, The American University in Washington D.C. was used by the U.S. Army as an experiment station for the development and testing of a variety of battlefield munitions including chemical weapons such as Mustard Gas, Phosgene, Ricin and Lewisite, among others. After the end of the War in 1918, many of the weapons and chemical agents were haphazardly buried in and around the American University testing area which is now known as Spring Valley. In 1993, chemical-laden mortar shells were accidentally unearthed by a construction crew setting off a series of investigations that, to date, has cost over 40 million dollars and is still on-going. The Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) is supporting the on-going Superfund investigation efforts using remote sensing technology. Both conventional and research applications of remotely sensed imagery, along with GIS database developments, are playing a critical role in the discovery and removal of chemical weapons and contamination in this area. This presentation will document the EPIC's use of historical imagery, GIS, photogrammetry and hyperspectral remote sensing in locating and removing these weapons from the environment.
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| PRESENTATION |
The Use of Ntm Data for the Accuracy Assessment of Landsat Derived Land Use/Land Cover Maps |
07/24/2001
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Jennings, D. B. The Use of Ntm Data for the Accuracy Assessment of Landsat Derived Land Use/Land Cover Maps. Presented at National Technical Means Conference, Denver, CO, July 24-26, 2001.
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National Technical Means (NTM) data were utilized to validate the accuracy of a series of LANDSAT derived Land Use / Land Cover (LU/LC) maps for the time frames mid- I 970s, early- I 990s and mid- I 990s. The area-of-interest for these maps is a 2000 square mile portion of the Delaware River watershed located in the Catskills mountain area of New York State. The maps were produced as part of a scientific study investigating the relationship of landscape pattern and change on water quality. Scientifically validating the accuracy of the LU/LC maps was integral to quantifying the relationship. NTM data provided an alternative to aerial photographic methods that are traditionally utilized in these types of assessments. The size of the watershed and the need for multiple historical coverages were factors that prohibited the acquisition of complete aerial photographic coverage. Results of the assessment ranged from 88% for the mid- I 970s maps to 90% for the early- I 990s maps to 95% for the mid- I 990s maps. This is the first accuracy assessment utilizing NTM data by USEPA scientists and it's successful completion points to NTM as an alternative data source when the acquisition of aerial photography is problematic. NTM is classified national asset data and the source attribution for open-science publishing was limited to "independent high resolution imagery" only. This limit on attribution may impact peer review processes and as such should be taken into consideration in advance of any open-science research proposal.
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| PRESENTATION |
Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Analytical Approaches for Characterizing Landscape Change |
09/13/2001
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Lunetta, R. S. Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Analytical Approaches for Characterizing Landscape Change. Presented at First International Workshop on the Anabold of Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Images, Tremo, Italy, September 13-14, 2001.
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Changes in landscape composition and function result from both acute land-cover conversions and chronic landscape changes. Land-cover conversions are typically mediated by human land-use activities (e.g. conversion from forest to agriculture), while more subtle chronic landscape changes can result from either natural processes (i.e., insect infestations, successional processes, and climatic changes) or human land-use activities (e.g., forest thinning). Landscape conversions are relatively rare events at regional to national scales of analysis. Over large geographic regions within the United States it has been estimated tha land-cover conversions have been estimated to occur at a rate of approximately 0.5% per annum. Numerous efforts have recently been undertaken in an attempt to document land-cover conversions using moderate resolution remote sensor data for both the United States and Mexico. However, current spectral based change detection techniques using either pre or post classification approaches have tended to be performance limited in biologically complex ecosystems, owing ( in large part) to vegetation phenology induced errors. Phenology errors are largely associated with the temporal displacement inherent with sequential satellite data collections. This temporal displacement can result in an unacceptable level of both omission (type 1) and commission (type 2) errors when the data are processed using traditional spectral based approaches Ongoing research is focusing on the development of automated land cover change detection methods based on "vegetation dynamics" to identify chaange locations and minimize errors.
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| PRESENTATION |
Assessment of Landscape Characteristics on Thematic Image Classification Accuracy |
04/16/2001
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Smith, J. H., J. D. Wickham, S. V. Stehman, AND L. Yang. Assessment of Landscape Characteristics on Thematic Image Classification Accuracy. Presented at American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 2002 Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, April 16-21, 2001.
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Landscape characteristics such as small patch size and land cover heterogeneity have been hypothesized to increase the likelihood of misclassifying pixels during thematic image classification. However, there has been a lack of empirical evidence, to support these hypotheses. This study utilizes data gathered as part of the accuracy assessment Of the 1992 National Land Cover Data (NLCD) set to identify and quantify the impacts of landscape characteristics. Guided step-wise logistic regression procedures were utilized to assess the impacts of patch size, land cover heterogeneity and their interaction, by NLCD class for four regional data sets- The -2 Lc)g Likelihood (12LL) values were used to formally test if the presence of a specific variable resulted in a statistically significant improvement in accuracy. In addition, evaluations of individual variables were conducted by calculating the change in the odds of a correct classification given a one-unit change in the explanatory variable (odds ratios) and the value at which there was a 50% change of correctly classifying the sample (median effective level). The analyses reveal that the impact of land cover hetergeneity and patch size play a major role in determining whether a sample was correctly classified, but that these impacts varied by region for many of the land cover classes. While the relative impact of the individual impacts did vary, their overall tendencies were consistent across all of the classes and regions examined, with accuracy decreasing as patch size decreased and land cover heterogeneity increased.
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| PRESENTATION |
Aquatic Stream Indicator Development in the Western United States, Preliminary Results for Arizona, Nevada, and Utah |
11/15/2001
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Kepner, W. G., J. R. Baker, D. V. Peck, P. R. Kaufmann, R. M. Hughes, W. L. Kinney, D. J. Chaloud, AND K. B. Jones. Aquatic Stream Indicator Development in the Western United States, Preliminary Results for Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Presented at 33rd Annual Meeting of the Desert Fishes Council, Alpine, TX, November 15-18, 2001.
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Beginning in 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiated a 5-year study of streams and rivers in 12 western States (AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, ND, OR, SD, UT, WA, and V;Y) as a component of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The objective of EMAP is to develop and demonstrate tools to monitor and assess the condition of ecological resources at a regional and state level of scale. These tools include survey designs based on probabilistic sampling to randomly select sites, and appropriate indicators of biological condition that are then used to estimate the biological integrity of the sites. EMAP is just completing its second year of data acquisition and the biological and physicochemical data are beginning to be examined relative to the development of core indicators that can be utilized in region-wide assessments. This poster provides an overview of the indicator development and evaluation approach, and, as a case study, presents preliminary results regarding associations between metrics based on introduced fish occurrence and abundance and abiotic measures of chemistry and physical habitat, using data collected in 2000 from stream sites sampled in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.
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| PRESENTATION |
Assessing the Accuracy of Satellite-Derived Land Cover Classification Using Historical Aerial Photography, Digital Orthophoto Quaddrangles, and Airborne Video Data |
12/11/2001
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Marsh, S. E., W. G. Kepner, S. M. Skirvin, S. E. Drake, J. K. Maingi, C. M. Edmonds, AND C. J. Watts. Assessing the Accuracy of Satellite-Derived Land Cover Classification Using Historical Aerial Photography, Digital Orthophoto Quaddrangles, and Airborne Video Data. Presented at A remote sensing and GIS accuracy assessment symposium, Las Vegas, NV, December 11-13, 2001.
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As the rapidly growing archives of satellite remote sensing imagery now span decades'worth of data, there is increasing interest in the study of long-term regional land cover change across multiple image dates. In most cases, however, temporally coincident ground sampled data are not available for accuracy assessment of the image-derived land cover classes, and other data and methods must be employed. The feasibility of utilizing historical aerial photography, digital orthophoto quadrangle (DOQ) images, and high-resolution airborne color video data to determine the accuracy of satellite derived land cover maps was investigated for a southwestern U.S. watershed. Satellite imagery included Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data acquired over an approximately 25-year period.
This paper summarizes the results of three methods used to assess overall and individual
accuracy for ten land cover classes for the upper San Pedro River watershed, in southeastern Arizona and northeastern Sonora, Mexico. Land cover maps were produced from classifications of MSS imagery (5 June 1973, 10 June 1986, and 2 June 1992) and TM imagery (8 June 1997). The MSS imagery was projected to Universal Transverse Mercator ground coordinates with a pixel size of 60 meters; the 30 meter TM imagery was re-sampled and mapped with a pixel size of 60 meters to facilitate comparison.
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| PRESENTATION |
Potential Concerns/Effects on Human and Environmental Health |
09/11/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Potential Concerns/Effects on Human and Environmental Health. Presented at "Studies Cheifs" Meeting, Denver, CO, September 11-13, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice) |
10/19/2001
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Grange, A. H. AND G. W. Sovocool. Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice). Presented at The 17th Asilomar Conference, Pacific Grove, CA, October 19-23, 2001.
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Ion Composition Elucidation (ICE) utilizes selected ion recording with a double focusing mass spectrometer to simultaneously determine exact masses and relative isotopic abundances from mass peak profiles. These can be determined more accurately and at higher sensitivity than with high resolution employing conventional scanning mass spectrometry. The technique can be applied to trace concentrations of analytes eluting from complex environmental mixtures. ICE has two facets: Mass Peak Profiling from Selected Ion Recording Data (MPPSIRD) for data acquisition and a Profile Generation Model (PGM) for automated composition assignment. MPPSIRD and the PGM will be described and a number of applications of ICE to the structural identification of "unknowns" will be shown. Environmental forensics can benefit greatly from expedited identification of "mystery" pollutants and biomarkers of exposure/effects.
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| PRESENTATION |
A New Mass Spectrometric Technique for Identifying Trace-Level Organic Compounds in Complex Mixtures |
09/19/2001
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Grange, A. H., W. C. Brumley, AND G. W. Sovocool. A New Mass Spectrometric Technique for Identifying Trace-Level Organic Compounds in Complex Mixtures. Presented at EPA Region IV Workshop, Athens, GA, September 19, 2001.
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Most organic compounds are not found in mass spectral libraries and cannot be easily identified from low resolution mass spectra. Ion Composition Elucidation (ICE) utilizes selected ion recording with a double focusing mass spectrometer in a new way to determine exact masses and relative abundances of ions more rapidly and with greater accuracy than by full scanning. These measurements are made as analytes from a complex mixture elute from a GC column into the ion source. The exact masses and relative abundances establish the elemental compositions of the ions in a mass spectrum, which limits the possible identify of the compound sufficiently to make searches of the chemical and commercial literature feasible. ICE has two facets: Mass Peak Profiling from Selected Ion Recording Data (MPPSIRD) for data acquisition and a Profile Generation Model (PGM) for automated data interpretation. NTPSIRD and the PGM will be described and several applications of ICE will be shown: tentative identification of a compound that provided a mass spectrum with I I plausible NIST library matches; confirmation of the presence of temazepam, a sedative and one of the 200 most prescribed
drugs in 1999.
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| PRESENTATION |
Alien Species: Their Role in Amphibian Population Declines and Restoration |
06/30/2001
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Bradford, D. F. AND R. A. Knapp. Alien Species: Their Role in Amphibian Population Declines and Restoration. Presented at International Symposium on Declining Amphibian Populations, Indianapolis, IN, June 30-31, 2001.
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Alien species (also referred to as exotic, invasive, introduced, or normative species) have been implicated as causal agents in population declines of many amphibian species. Herein, we evaluate the relative contributions of alien species and other factors in adversely affecting anuran populations in the USA, and then focus on the problems and potential solutions for a single native species. We accomplish the former by reviewing early-draft species accounts written in a standardized format by multiple authors for the book "Status and Conservation of U.S. Amphibians" (Lannoo, in press). For each species, factors implicated by the authors (i.e., known or suspected) as affecting persistence of populations were identified. Each species was also classified by status with regards to change in its historical geographic range or number of sites within the range, taxonomic family, and region of the US. Information was sufficient to classify the status of 71 (78%) of the 91 species native to the US. Relatively few species were classified as increasing (7%), whereas 25% were classified as no change, and almost half were classified as either minor decline (24%) or major decline (22%). The frequency of declining species was exceptionally high for ranids in the western US (i.e., 100% of 13 species restricted to the Rocky Mountains and west), whereas no differences in frequency of declining species were evident among non-westem ranids, western non-ranids, and non-western non-ranids. Specific adverse factors were identified for 51 (56%) of the 91 species and 36 (86%) of the 42 declining species (i.e., major- and minor-decline groups combined). Of the species with adverse factors implicated, alien species ranked second (43% of the 51 species; 53% of the 36 declining species) behind land use change (77% of the species; 81% of declining species). Factors implicated less frequently were disease, water source alteration, chemical contamination, increased UV-B, and collecting/harvesting. Alien species were implicated in anuran population declines significantly more frequently in the western US (88% of declining species) than in the other regions (24% of declining species), which suggests that alien species may be the major factor accounting for the high frequency of declining species among western ranids. Among alien, introduced fishes of many species were implicated most frequently, followed by American bullfrogs, crayfish, and other amphibians.
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| PRESENTATION |
Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice): A High Resolution Mass Spectrometric Technique for Identifying Compounds in Complex Mixtures |
10/19/2001
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Grange, A. H. AND G. W. Sovocool. Ion Composition Elucidation (Ice): A High Resolution Mass Spectrometric Technique for Identifying Compounds in Complex Mixtures. Presented at 17th Asilomar Conference on Mass Spectrometry, Pacific Grove, CA, October 19-23, 2001.
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When tentatively identifying compounds in complex mixtures using mass spectral libraries, multiple matches or no plausible matches due to a high level of chemical noise or interferences can occur. Worse yet, most analytes are not in the libraries. In each case, Ion Composition Elucidation (ICE) provides a means for identifying compounds. This poster illustrates an example of each problem and its solution.
Three Compound Identification Problems
Multiple Plausible Library Matches
The mass spectrum in Figure la is a background-subtracted mass spectrum for a compound in an extract of 12 L of effluent from a tertiary waste water treatment plant. Figures lb-g are NIST library matches over the same mass range. The isomers in parenthesis in Figure I also had similar NIST mass spectra. The compound that provided the mass spectrum was present in the extract at an ultra-trace level. Chemical noise, coelution of compounds in the complex extract, and septum and column bleed components generally result in background-subtracted mass spectra containing extraneous ions or lacking low-abundance ions expected from the analyte. Hence, none of the NIST library matches can be ruled out without additional data.
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| PRESENTATION |
Determination of Roxarsone, An Arsenic Animal-Feed Additive. and Its Transformation Products in Chicken Manure By Ce-Icpms and Uhplc-Icpms |
01/06/2001
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Rosal, C. G., G. M. Momplaisir, AND E. M. Heithmar. Determination of Roxarsone, An Arsenic Animal-Feed Additive. and Its Transformation Products in Chicken Manure By Ce-Icpms and Uhplc-Icpms. Presented at 2002 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Scottsdale, AZ, January 6-12, 2002.
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Arsenic animal-feed additives have been extensively used in the United States for their growth- promoting and disease-controlling properties. In particular most broiler chickens are fed roxarsone(3- nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid) to control coccidiosis. Disposal of the resulting arsenic-bearing wastes is currently unregulated, and they are frequently used to fertilize crop lands. Because of the high use of roxarsone in certain geographic regions, it is important that the environmental fate of this compound and its transformation products be studied in order to understand their possible impacts on human health and the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development (ORD) has undertaken such a study in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey. Because of the different toxicity levels associated with each arsenic species, it is important to identify and measure the individual species existing in the environment. ORD's National Exposure Research Laboratory in Las Vegas is therefore developing analytical methods to speciate arsenic-containing compounds thought to be relevant to roxarsone transformation and fate. Compounds under investigation include roxarsone (3-NHPAA) and some likely transformation products, specifically arsenite (Aslll), arsenate (AsV), monomethylarsonate (MMA), dimethylarsinate (DMA), 3-amino-4- hydroxyphenylarsonic acid (3-AHPAA), and 4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid (4-HPAA).
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| PRESENTATION |
Direct Mercury Analysis in Environmental Solids By Icpms With on-Line Sample Ashing and Mercury Preconcentration Using a Direct Mercury Analyzer |
01/06/2001
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Heithmar, E. M., C. G. Rosal, AND J. V. Cizdziel. Direct Mercury Analysis in Environmental Solids By Icpms With on-Line Sample Ashing and Mercury Preconcentration Using a Direct Mercury Analyzer. Presented at Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Scottsdale, AZ, January 6-12, 2002.
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Mercury is a persistent, mobile, and highly toxic pollutant. It's biogeochemistry is probably the most complex of any metal. For these reasons, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Office of Research and Development (ORD), has developed a comprehensive research plan to study the exposure of humans and ecosystems to mercury and the risks associated with these exposures. ORD's National Exposure Research Laboratory is tasked with developing tools for determining mercury in all environmental media. Environmental analysis of mercury is most often accomplished by generation of elemental mercury from an aqueous sample or digest, followed by determination by either atomic absorption or atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Conventional analysis of aqueous samples or digests by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) is problematic because of the high ionization potential of the element, the low abundance of its isotopes, and memory effects from sorption in the sampling system. ICPMS combined with cold vapor generation has been used to increase sensitivity.
The determination of mercury in solid environmental samples, such as soil, sediment, dust, and biological tissue, is difficult. The element is generally present at ultratrace concentrations. Sometimes only milligram quantities of sample are available (e.g., in the analysis of human hair or muscle tissue from live organisms), resulting in very low absolute mass of mercury. Digestion methods required for conventional analysis further dilute the concentration of the element and introduce the potential of contamination.
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| PRESENTATION |
Remote Sensing and GIS Wetlands |
10/19/2001
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Lyon, J. G. Remote Sensing and GIS Wetlands. Presented at Annual Meeting of the Texas Society of Professional Surveyors, Galveston, TX, October 19, 2001.
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Learn how photographs and computer sensor generated images can illustrate conditions of hydrology, extent, change over time, and impact of events such as hurricanes and tornados. Other topics include: information storage and modeling, and evaluation of wetlands for managing resources.
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| PRESENTATION |
New Approaches for Trace Analysis of Pharmaceuticals in Natural Waters |
10/18/2001
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JonesLepp, T. New Approaches for Trace Analysis of Pharmaceuticals in Natural Waters. Presented at Water Reuse Symposium, Las Vegas, NV, October 18, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals in Source Water Overview |
10/16/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals in Source Water Overview. Presented at Presentation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Workshop on "Presence and Significance of Pharmaceuticals in Surface and Ground Water", Atlanta, GA, October 16-17, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Overview of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment |
10/18/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Overview of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment. Presented at Water Reuse Symposium, Las Vegas, NV, October 18, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
U.S. EPA, NERL-Las Vegas Activities and Research on Pharmaceuticals Personal Care Products in the Environment |
11/01/2001
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Daughton, C. G. U.S. EPA, NERL-Las Vegas Activities and Research on Pharmaceuticals Personal Care Products in the Environment. Presented at LMWQF Meeting, Lake Mead Water Quality Forum, Las Vegas, NV, November 1, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (Ppcps) as Environmental Pollutants Pollution from Personal Actions |
11/05/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (Ppcps) as Environmental Pollutants Pollution from Personal Actions. Presented at The Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Pardee Keynote Symposium, Boston, MA, November 5-8, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors: Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment |
04/01/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors: Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment. Presented at Drugs in the Environment, Wiesbaden, Germany, April 1-4, 2001.
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Perhaps more so than with any other class of pollutants, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment highlights the immediate, intimate, and inseparable connection between the personal activities of individual citizens and their environment. PPCPs, in contrast to other types of pollutants, owe their origins in the environment directly to their worldwide, universal, frequent, highly dispersed, and individually small but cumulative usage by multitudes of individuals C as opposed to the larger, highly delineated, and more controllable industrial manufacturing/usage of most high-volume synthetic chemicals.
Many PPCPs (as well as their metabolites and transformation products) can enter the environment following ingestion or application by the user or administration to domestic animals. Disposal of unused/expired PPCPs in landfills and in domestic sewage is another route to the environment. The aquatic environment serves as the major, ultimate receptacle for these chemicals, for which little is known with respect to actual or potential adverse effects. Domestic sewage treatment plants are not specifically engineered to remove PPCPs, and the efficiencies with which they are removed vary from nearly complete to ineffective. While PPCPs in the environment (or domestic drinking water) are not regulated, and even though their concentrations are extremely low (ng/L-?g/L), the consequences of exposure over multiple generations to multiple compounds having different as well as similar modes of action prompts a plethora of questions. While the environmental issues involved with antibiotics and sex steroids are the most widely recognized, numerous other therapeutic and consumer-use classes of PPCPs pose additional environmental concerns.
While the occurrence of PPCPs in the environment is not new (undoubtedly having taken place ever since any given PPCP has enjoyed commercial use), the continual advancement in the capabilities of analytical chemistry to identify and quantify ever-lower concentrations (and increasing polarities) of pollutants has elucidated the issue only over the last decade or so. The U.S. EPA and other U.S. federal and state agencies are beginning to consider the many scientific issues involved with this multifaceted environmental concern. One of the most frequent questions is ASo What? With therapeutic drugs, exposures of aquatic organisms are at levels far below therapeutic dosages for humans C and exposures for humans via drinking water are lower yet. So why should we be concerned even if PPCPs prove to be ubiquitous pollutants? This question will be examined from a number of perspectives, and suggestions will be offered with respect to actions regarding future direction for research and pollution prevention. As analytical chemistry continues to progress, ultimately yielding the routine capability of detection limits that approach yocto molar levels and the routine ability to perform non-target analyses, society will be challenged with numerous questions regarding the significance of the occurrence of most commercial chemicals in increasing numbers of environmental samples.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (Ppcps) as Environmental Pollutants Pollution from Personal Actions |
02/05/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (Ppcps) as Environmental Pollutants Pollution from Personal Actions. Presented at Chem 729 Pharceuticals in the Environment, Baltimore, MD, February 5, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Performanced-Based Measurement Systems & Laboratory Tour |
02/21/2001
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Brilis, G. M. Performanced-Based Measurement Systems & Laboratory Tour. Presented at EPA OIG/ORD Partnership Laboratory Data Integrity Training, Las Vegas, NV, February 21-22, 2001.
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The use of established methods for the analysis of environmental samples procedures has been one factor that courts have used to determine if the science use in the analysis is adequate for the purposes intended. This established "comfort-zone" may be shaken by efforts to approve and use alternate methods. -
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is actively working to reform the regulatory policy. As part of this program, EPA has been working at breaking down barriers to using new monitoring techniques. One barrier is the requirement to use specific measurement methods or technologies in complying with some of the Agency's regulations. There is broad acceptance for Agency-wide use of a nonprescriptive performance-based measurement system (PBMS).
The evaluation of the method used, the review of results generated by that method and the veracity of the data may be required to undergo a more rigorous evaluation. In this presentation, the author describes PBMS, the intent of PBMS, and outlines a procedure for investigators to use when considering analytical results generated using the PBMS.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (Ppcps) as Environmental Pollutants: Overview and Research Needs |
11/28/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (Ppcps) as Environmental Pollutants: Overview and Research Needs. Presented at USGS Eastern Region Workshop, Orlando, FL, November 28, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PRESENTATION |
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors |
04/25/2001
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Daughton, C. G. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: An Overview Pollution from Personal Actions, Activities, and Behaviors. Presented at Environmental Toxicology Graduate Program, Riverside, CA, April 25, 2001.
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| Abstract:
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Perhaps more so than with any other class of pollutants, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPS) in the environment highlights the immediate, intimate, and inseparable connection between the personal activities of individual citizens and their environment. PPCPS, in contrast to other types of pollutants, owe their origins in the environment directly to their worldwide, universal, frequent, highly dispersed, and individually small but cumulative usage by multitudes of individuals - as opposed to the larger, highly delineated, and more controllable industrial manufacturing/usage of most high- volume synthetic chemicals.
Many PPCPs (as well as their metabolites and transformation products) can enter the environment following ingestion or application by the user or administration to domestic animals. Disposal of unused/expired PPCPs in landfills and in domestic sewage is another route to the environment. The aquatic environment serves as the major, ultimate receptacle for these chemicals, for which little is known with respect to actual or potential adverse effects. Domestic sewage treatment plants are not specifically engineered to remove PPCPS, and the efficiencies with which they are removed vary from nearly complete to ineffective. While PPCPs in the environment (or domestic drinking water) are not regulated, and even though their concentrations are extremely low (ng/L-ug/L), the consequences of exposure over multiple generations to multiple compounds having different as well as similar modes of action prompts a plethora of questions. While the environmental issues involved with antibiotics and sex steroids are the most widely recognized, numerous other therapeutic and consumer-use classes of PPCPs pose additional environmental concerns.
While the occurrence of PPCPs in the environment is not new (undoubtedly having taken place ever since any given PPCP has enjoyed commercial use), the continual advancement in the capabilities of analytical chemistry to identify and quantify ever-lower concentrations (and increasing polarities) of pollutants has elucidated the issue only over the last decade or so. The U.S. EPA and other U.S. federal and state agencies are just beginning to consider the many scientific issues involved with this multifaceted environmental concern. One of the most frequent questions is "So What? With therapeutic drugs, exposures of aquatic organisms are at levels far below therapeutic dosages for humans - and exposures for humans via drinking water are lower yet. So why should we be concerned even if PPCPs prove to be ubiquitous pollutants?" This question will be examined from a number of perspectives, and suggestions will be offered with respect to actions regarding future direction for research and pollution prevention. As analytical chemistry continues to progress, ultimately yielding the routine capability of detection limits that approach yocto molar levels and the routine ability to perform non-target analyses, society will be challenged with numerous questions regarding the significance of the occurrence of most commercial chemicals in increasing numbers of environmental samples.
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| PRESENTATION |
Mapping Spatial Accuracy and Estimating Landscape Indicators from Thematic Land Cover Maps Using Fuzzy Set Theory |
12/11/2001
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Tran, L. T., S. T. Jarnagin, J. D. Wickham, AND L. Baskaran. Mapping Spatial Accuracy and Estimating Landscape Indicators from Thematic Land Cover Maps Using Fuzzy Set Theory. Presented at Remote Sensing and GIS Accuracy Assessment Symposium, Las Vegas, NV, December 11-13, 2001.
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This paper presents a fuzzy set-based method of mapping spatial accuracy of thematic map and computing several ecological indicators while taking into account spatial variation of accuracy associated with different land cover types and other factors (e.g., slope, soil type, etc.). It is evident that the pattern and degree of spatial variation of thematic map accuracy need to be understood and represented properly. Furthermore, such information should be accounted for in other analyses using thematic maps as source of data (e.g., derivation of ecological indicators from thematic maps). However there are not many studies on this issue except some focusing on map area estimation (e.g., Woodcock and Gopal, 2000). In this paper we formulate a concept of degree of agreement (DA) with respect to different land cover types at each grid point on a thematic map using fuzzy sets. On the other hand, information from reference source are also represented by fuzzy sets as they are not always certain in many cases (Yang et al., 2001), a feature not seen in other studies. Our aim is to use the spatial accuracy of thematic maps to compute DA at each grid point with respect to different land cover types. First we construct a matrix of degree of similarity (DS) between different land cover types (e.g., DS between low and high density residential is 0.6; 0.0 for DS between water and evergreen forest). Then the accuracy assessment is carried out by comparing the agreement between the assigned land cover type on thematic map with information at reference source, using fuzzy intersection operation between fuzzy sets representing "true" land cover type and the assigned land cover type's DS values. Degree of accuracy is then interpolated from the reference points to the whole map via Kriging. The derived spatial accuracy map in turns is used with information at reference source to formulate a set of fuzzy if-then rules representing relationship between spatial accuracy, land cover type and DA with respect to different land cover types. For example, a single fuzzy rule can be stated as follows: "if spatial accuracy is low and the assigned land cover on the thematic map is type A then the degree of agreement at that grid point for type A is 0.5; for type B is 0.3; type C 0.1, etc.." The overall DA at a particular location is a combination of the fuzzy rule responses via weighted-sum combination method. Information on DA is then used in further calculations of several ecological indicators, including percent forest cover, forest fragmentation, forest and agricultural land cover along streams. For illustration purpose, we apply the method to a portion of the Mid-Atlantic region. The method is found not only to provide valuable information on the spatial distribution of map accuracy but also to implement a viable tool to include degree of accuracy into other calculations/analyses using information from thematic maps.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Summary Report on Research Results from the Advance Measurement Initiative (Ami) |
12/12/2001
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Principe, P. Summary Report on Research Results from the Advance Measurement Initiative (Ami). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-00/089 (NTIS PB2002-102317), 2001.
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EPA created the Advanced Measurement Initiative (AMI) to permit the early and inexpensive evaluation of innovative advanced technology and to encourage broad and rapid application in EPA operations. The AMI program focused on improving EPA's technological capabilities and accelerating the evaluation and application of advanced, innovative measurement technology to address important environmental needs. The AMI program provided a mechanism for EPA's Regions and Program Offices to work with EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) as well as Federal agencies, academia, and the private sector to find ways to improve EPA's measurement capabilities. Activities sponsored by the AMI program were structured to transfer and promote the technology and the knowledge gained from the evaluation into broad use both by EPA and by the States and the private sector, which are responsible for a significant amount of environmental monitoring and reporting. While AMI focused on improving EPA's capabilities, the application of the technology engaged the States, private sector, and other stakeholders to coordinate efforts and enhance the monitoring capabilities overall. This document provides an overview of AMIis history, objectives, and accomplishments and a description of the projects that AMI funded, several of which are still ongoing.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Verification Report; Groundwater Sampling Technologies; W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc., Gore-Sorber Water Quality Monitoring |
01/18/2001
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Einfeld, W. AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Verification Report; Groundwater Sampling Technologies; W.L. Gore and Associates, Inc., Gore-Sorber Water Quality Monitoring. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-00/091 (NTIS PB2003-106591), 2001.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created the Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV) to facilitate the deployment of innovative or improved environmental technologies through performance verification and dissemination of information. The goal of the ETV Program is to further environmental protection by substantially accelerating the acceptance and use of improved and cost-effective technologies. ETV seeks to achieve this goal by providing high-quality, peer-reviewed data on technology performance to those involved in the design, distribution, financing, permitting purchase, and use of environmental technologies.
GORE-SORBER module results are reported in terms of total mass of VOC collected in the module. In this format, the data are not directly comparable to the concentration accompanied by the collection and analysis of a conventional groundwater sample, which enables comparison of the two data formats. The correlation between GORE-SORBOR modules data and conventional groundwater sample data was carried out by deploying GORE-SORBOR modules data and conventional groundwater sample data was carried out by deploying GORE-SORBER modules data and reference pump in five different wells with known TCE contamination. Trichloroethene concentration in these 5 wells ranged from 5 to 2,000 ug/L. The observed correlation between GORE-SORBOR module data and reference sample data was very good. The correlation coefficients for the STND and HWEP modules were 0.997 and 0.998 respectively.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
GIS for QA Professionals |
01/22/2001
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Brilis, G. M., R. W. Matheny, D. S. Burden, D. Parrish, D. Catlin, D. E. James, AND S. L. Batterman. GIS for QA Professionals. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/A-03/204, 2001.
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GIS scientists and QA Professionals have combined their efforts to create this one day course that provides the QA community with a basic understanding of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The course emphasizes the QA Aspects of GIS so that the QA Professional is better prepared to influence the growing impact of this tool.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Program Demonstration Bulletin Performance Verification of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Field Measurement Technologies |
06/18/2001
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Billets, S. N. Program Demonstration Bulletin Performance Verification of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Field Measurement Technologies. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/006, 2001.
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There is no abstract available for this product. If further information is requested, please refer to the bibliographic citation and contact the person listed under Contact field.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Evaluation Report, Sediment Sampling Technology, Art's Manufacturing, Split Core Sampler for Submerged Sediments |
02/25/2001
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Topudurti, K., E. Monschein, AND A. Bajorat. Innovative Technology Evaluation Report, Sediment Sampling Technology, Art's Manufacturing, Split Core Sampler for Submerged Sediments. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/009 (NTIS PB2003-106592), 2001.
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The Split Core Sampler for Submerged Sediments (Split Core Sampler) designed and fabricated by Arts Manufacturing & Supply, Inc., was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in April and May 1999 at sites in EPA Regions 1 and 5, respectively. In addition to assessing ease of sampler operation, key objectives of the demonstration included evaluating the samplers ability to (1) consistently collect a given volume of sediment, (2) consistently collect sediment in a given depth interval, (3) collect samples with consistent characteristics from a homogenous layer of sediment, and (4) collect samples under a variety of site conditions. This report describes the demonstration results for the Split Core Sampler and two conventional samplers (the Hand Corer and Vibrocorer) used as reference samplers. During the demonstration, the Split Core Sampler performed as well as or better than the reference samplers. Based on visual observations, both the Split Core Sampler and reference samplers collected partially compressed samples of consolidated and unconsolidated sediments from the sediment surface downward; sample representativeness may be questionable because of core shortening and core compression. Sediment stratification was preserved for both consolidated and unconsolidated sediment samples collected by the Split Core Sampler and reference samplers. No sampler was able to collect samples in the deep depth interval (4 to 11 feet below sediment surface). The average sampling time was less for the Split Core Sampler than for the reference samplers. Sampling costs for the Split Core Sampler were 8 percent greater than those for the Hand Corer and 95 percent less than those for the Vibrocorer.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Evaluation Report, Sediment Sampling Technology, Aquatic Research Instruments, Russian Peat Borer |
02/25/2001
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Topudurti, K., E. Monschein, AND A. Bajorat. Innovative Technology Evaluation Report, Sediment Sampling Technology, Aquatic Research Instruments, Russian Peat Borer. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/010 (NTIS PB2003-106593), 2001.
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The Russian Peat Borer designed and fabricated by Aquatic Research Instruments was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in April and May 1999 at sites in EPA Regions 1 and 5, respectively. In addition to assessing ease of sampler operation, key objectives of the demonstration included evaluating the sampler?s ability to (1) consistently collect a given volume of sediment, (2) consistently collect sediment in a given depth interval, (3) collect samples with consistent characteristics from a homogenous layer of sediment, and (4) collect samples under a variety of site conditions. This report describes the demonstration results for the Russian Peat Borer and two conventional samplers (the Hand Corer and Vibrocorer) used as reference samplers. During the demonstration, the Russian Peat Borer was the only sampler that collected samples in the deep depth interval (4 to 11 feet below sediment surface). It collected representative and relatively uncompressed core samples of consolidated sediment in discrete depth intervals. The reference samplers collected relatively compressed samples of both consolidated and unconsolidated sediments from the sediment surface downward; sample representativeness may be questionable because of core shortening and core compression. Sediment stratification was preserved only for consolidated sediment samples collected by the Russian Peat Borer but for both unconsolidated and consolidated sediment samples collected by the reference samplers. Sampling time was less for the Russian Peat Borer than for the reference samplers. Sampling costs for the Russian Peat Borer were 90 percent less than those for the Vibrocorer and 22 percent more than those for the Hand Corer.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Mountain Acid Deposition Program (Madpro): Cloud Deposition to the Appalachian Mountains, 1994 Through 1999 |
07/16/2001
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Isil, S., T. L. Lavery, AND R. E. Baumgardner. Mountain Acid Deposition Program (Madpro): Cloud Deposition to the Appalachian Mountains, 1994 Through 1999. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/016 (NTIS PB2001-107715), 2001.
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The mountain Acid Deposition Program (MADPro) was initiated in 1993 as part of the research necessary to support the objectives of the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet), which was created to address the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA). The two main objectives of MADPro were to develop cloudwater measurement systems to be used in a network monitoring environment and to update the cloudwater concentration and deposition data collected in the Applachian Mountains during the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) in at three permanent mountaintop sampling stations. These sampling stations were located at Whiteface Mountain, New York; Clingman's Dome, Tennessee; and Whitetop Mountain, Virginia. A mobile manual sampling station was also operated at two locations in the Catskill Mountains in New York during 1995, 1997, and 1998.
Concentration ranges for the ions reported for MADPro are comparable to concentration ranges reported for the Canadian High Elevation Fog (CHEF) project and the Mountain Cloud Chemistry Program (MCCP). However, the MADPro means are higher for all four major ions for Whiteface and Whitetop Mountains in comparison to MCCP results. In general, the MADPro mean calculated deposition values (CLOUD model) for water and four major ions, when compared to MCCP values and several other studies, fall within the range of those measured previously for Clingman's Dome and Whitetop Mountain, while those from the MADPro Whiteface Mountain site are slightly above the range.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
An Ecological Assessment of Invasive and Agressive Plant Species in Coastal Wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes: A Combined Field Based and Remote Sensing Approach |
04/06/2001
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Lopez, R. D. AND C. M. Edmonds. An Ecological Assessment of Invasive and Agressive Plant Species in Coastal Wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes: A Combined Field Based and Remote Sensing Approach. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/018 (NTIS PB2001-105213), 2001.
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The aquatic plant communities within coastal wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes are among the most biologically diverse and productive systems of the world. Coastal wetlands have been especially impacted by landscape conversion and have undergone a marked decline in plant community biological diversity in the past. The loss of biological diversity in coastal wetland plant communities coincided with an increase in the presence and patch-dominance of invasive (i.e., non-native and opportunistic) and aggressive (i.e., native and opportunistic) plant species. The loss of biological diversity, by definition, may be the result of the increased presence of invasive and aggressive plant species, and other ecosystem research suggests that such invasive and aggressive plant species may be the result of general ecosystem stress in coastal wetlands (see "Theoretical Basis of Project"). Thus, such losses of biological diversity in the plant communities of Great Lakes coastal wetlands may be related to changes in the frequency of landscape disturbance within a wetland or on the edges of wetlands (e.g., road fragmentation of wetland ecosystems, conversion of wetland ecosystems to agriculture, or wetland hydrology alterations). Little is known about such ecological relationships in the Great Lakes, especially at the lake-basin scale. The purpose of this study is to examine some of the landscape-scale ecological relationships by quantifying the extent and pattern of invasive/aggressive plant species and testing for substantive relationships with local landscape disturbance in the past. Remote sensing technologies may offer unique capabilities to measure the extent of these invasive and aggressive species over a large area. Our approach is to use ground-based vegetation sampling to calibrate remote sensing data, to develop spectral signatures of invasive/aggressive species that may then be used to address the ecological vulnerability of coastal wetlands. This study will focus on coastal wetlands along the coastal regions of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake St. Claire, and Lake Erie that represent a full range of disturbance conditions in the lake basins, but may also include coastal areas of the other Great Lakes (Figure 1). The outcome of this study will help managers throughout the Great Lakes region target vulnerable coastal wetlands in need of restoration or protection, an important component of improving the water quality and ecological integrity of the Great Lakes Ecosystem. This project will also produce a method that could be used by environmental managers to monitor the progress/success of wetland rehabilitation and restoration projects where measures are taken to control or eradicate aggressive plant species.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Distributions of Airborne Agricultural Contaminants Relative to Amphibian Populations in the Southern Sierra Nevada, Ca |
10/17/2001
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Bradford, D. F., E. M. Heithmar, C. L. Cross, B. Gentry, G. M. Momplaisir, M. S. Nash, N. G. TallentHalsell, L. A. Riddick, C. G. Rosal, AND K. E. Varner. Distributions of Airborne Agricultural Contaminants Relative to Amphibian Populations in the Southern Sierra Nevada, Ca. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/085 (NTIS PB2002-102156), 2001.
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The Sierra Nevada mountain range lies adjacent to one of the heaviest pesticide use areas in the USA, the Central Valley of California. Because of this proximity, concern has arisen that agricultural pesticides, in addition to other contaminants, are adversely affecting the natural resources of the Sierra Nevada. Transport and deposition of pesticides from the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada has been documented, and several lines of evidence have implicated pesticide drift from the Central Valley as a causal factor in the dramatic population declines of four amphibian species in the Sierra Nevada.
This study focuses on contaminants in lakes at high elevation in the southern Sierra, an area where unexplained population declines of one species, the mountain yellow-legged frog, have been dramatic. The southern Sierra is of particular interest because air pollution in the Central Valley and Sierra is generally greatest in the south, watersheds in the southern Sierra differ substantially in their proximity to the Central Valley, and the region includes large areas where the mountain yellow-legged frog has completely disappeared and other areas where large numbers remain.
The goals of this study are to: (1) describe the temporal and spatial patterns of distribution of more than 30 chemical contaminants, especially agricultural pesticides (i.e., insecticides and herbicides), all of which are expected to occur in very low concentrations; (2) identify the topographic and spatial attributes of the landscape that influence contaminant distributions (e.g., upslope air flowpath distance from the Central Valley, and elevation); and (3) determine whether there is an association between contaminant distributions and unexplained population extinctions of the mountain yellow-legged frog. We will conduct a study of temporal variation of contaminant concentrations in six lakes in three major watersheds from approximately late summer of 2001 through autumn of 2002. Media sampled will be the snow pack, lake water, sediment, semi-permeable membrane devices suspended in lake water, and possibly dry deposition from the atmosphere. In 2002 or 2003 we will conduct a spatial survey of contaminants in at least 60 lakes in four major watersheds over a 130-km segment of the southern Sierra. We will also collect tadpoles of the ubiquitous Pacific treefrog for
determination of acetylcholinesterase activity. Suppression of activity of this neurological transmitter hydrolase has been used as an indicator of exposure to pesticides. Results of the spatial survey of contaminants will be used in an analysis of the current and former distributions of the mountain yellow-legged frog and Pacific treefrog based on results of ongoing biological surveys for amphibians, fish, and habitat characteristics in 3200 water bodies in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We will also analyze lake water and other media for contaminants no longer used in the Central Valley. Some of these may be transported from other continents, and some may be selectively deposited at the higher elevations.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
An Ecological and Habitat Vulnerability Assessment of the White River Basin |
06/21/2001
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Lopez, R. D. AND D. T. Heggem. An Ecological and Habitat Vulnerability Assessment of the White River Basin. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/040 (NTIS PB2001-108566), 2001.
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This study is an important first step toward a determination of how such landscape alterations are correlated with changes in the hydrologic, chemical, and biological characteristics of the White River Basin and how the influences of potential alterations may affect change in the future water quality and the biological integrity of the ecosystem. Quantifying these relationships could improve the decision-making processes for future land use planning in the White River and the Mississippi River watershed. Recent detailed studies of the landscape in and around the remnant bottomland hardwood wetlands of the Cache River (Figure 1) show that the relationships between landscape change and wetland function in the region are complex and require a thorough understanding of impact history (Kress et al. 1996), water quality (DeLaune et al. 1996, Dortch 1996, Kleiss 1996), hydrology (Long and Nestler 1996, Walton et al. 1996a, Walton et al. 1996b, Wilber et al. 1996), and habitat characteristics (Kilgor and Baker 1996, Smith 1996, Wakeley and Roberts 1996).
The White River, a major tributary to the Mississippi River, has not undergone a comprehensive assessment of this kind. A fundamental assessment of the landscape historic resource rarity, and ecological functions of the White River Basin is necessary to continue the efforts to better understand how the remaining bottornland hardwood wetlands, and other inter-linked ecosystems, of the Mississippi River Valley are impacted by future development. This need is urgent because approximately 70% of Arkansas' wetlands have been converted to other land cover types since the late nineteenth century (Dahl 1990), a loss of approximately 2.8 million hectares (Figure 3), and over 400 thousand acres of this loss occurred in the mid-twentieth century (Shaw and Fredine, 1956).
One of the land cover changes that predominates in this region of the United States is the conversion of forest to agricultural areas (Heggem et al., 1999). Conversely, in recent years some human-use areas (e.g., agricultural land) have been restored to their former 'natural' cover types (e.g., forest) through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wetland Reserve Program (WRP). Information about the WRP can be found at the Internet web site: http://www.wl.fb- net.org/. Both types of land cover change will be assessed in this study. The observed relationships between land cover change and the status of ecosystems of the region will then be used to determine how: (a) future change in vegetation cover may impact habitat suitability of the basin; (b) future change in vegetation cover may impact water quality of rivers, lakes, and wetlands; and (c) river and wetland hydrology and vegetation change are related. These relationships will be used to predict potential habitat and water quality/quantity conditions of the future. Thus, the potential future scenarios can be used to assess the vulnerability of the ecosystems to future land cover change and land use change in the region.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Verification Report, PCB Detection Technology, Dexsil Corporation L2000dx Analyzer |
09/19/2001
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Verification Report, PCB Detection Technology, Dexsil Corporation L2000dx Analyzer. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/049 (NTIS PB2002-100440), 2001.
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The L2000DX Analyzer (dimensions: 9 x 9.5 x 4.25 in.) is a field-portable ion-specific electrode instrument, weighing approximately 5 lb 12 oz, designed to quantify concentrations of PCBS, chlorinated solvents, and pesticides in soils, water, transformer oils, and surface wipes. The L2000DX can be operated in the field powered by a rechargeable 8-V gel cell, or in the laboratory using 120-V AC power. To prepare a sample for analysis, 5 mL of the oil is collected in a polyethylene reaction tube. Two glass ampules contained in the reaction tube are broken to introduce metallic sodium to the oil. The mixture is then shaken for 10 s and allowed to react for a total of I min. The sodium strips the covalently bonded chlorine atoms off the PCB molecule. An aqueous extraction solution is added to the reaction tube to adjust the pH, destroy the excess sodium, and extract and isolate the newly formed chloride ions in a buffered aqueous solution. The aqueous layer is decanted, filtered, and collected in an analysis vial. The ion-specific electrode is put into this aqueous solution to measure the millivolt potential. The potential is then converted to the equivalent PCB concentration. The lowest concentration reported by the L2000DX is typically 3 ppm. The performance of a previous version of this instrument (the L2000 PCB/Chloride Analyzer) was verified by ETV for soil and solvent extracts in 1998.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Verification Report, PCB Detection Technology, Hybrizyme Delfia Tm Assay |
09/19/2001
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Verification Report, PCB Detection Technology, Hybrizyme Delfia Tm Assay. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/052 (NTIS PB2002-100442), 2001.
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The DELFIA PCB Assay is a solid-phase time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay based on the sequential addition of sample extract and europium-labeled PCB tracer to a monoclonal antibody reagent specific for PCBs. In this assay, the antibody reagent and sample extract are added to a strip of microtiter plate wells and allowed to react. The strips have been specially treated to trap the antibody reagent or antibody-PCB complexes that may have formed. A wash step removes sample matrix from the captured antibody. This step significantly reduces any potential matrix interferences before the addition of the PCB tracer, resulting in an unusually robust assay system. The PCB tracer is then added and allowed to bind to the antibodies that are not complexed with sample PCBs. A wash step is used to separate antibody-bound tracer from the tracer free in solution. The addition of an enhancement solution forms highly fluorescent chelates with the bound europium ions. The amount of fluorescence measured is inversely proportional to the concentration of PCBs in the sample. The lowest reporting level is typically 0.5 ppm.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Demonstration Plan Field Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil |
11/23/2001
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Billets, S. N. Demonstration Plan Field Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/060 (NTIS PB2002-101362), 2001.
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The demonstration of innovative field measurement devices for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil is being conducted under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the Navy Base Ventura County site in Port Hueneme, California. The primary purpose of the demonstration is to evaluate innovative field measurement devices for TPH in soil based on their performance and cost as compared to a conventional, off-site laboratory analytical method. The seven field measurement devices listed below will be demonstrated.
CHEMetrics, Inc.'s, RemediAidTm Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Starter Kit
Wilks Enterprise, Inc.'s, Infracal' TOG/TPH Analyzer, Models CVH and HATR-T
Horiba Instruments, Incorporated's, OCMA-350 Oil Content Analyzer
Dexsil' Corporation's PetroFLAGTm Hydrocarbon Test Kit for Soil
Environmental Systems Corporation's Synchronous Scanning Luminoscope
siteLAB@ Corporation's Analytical Test Kit UVF-3 I OOA
Strategic Diagnostics, Inc.'s, EnSys Petro Test System
This demonstration plan describes the procedures that will be used to verify the performance and cost of each field measurement device. The plan incorporates the quality assurance and quality control elements needed to generate data of sufficient quality to document each device's performance and cost. A separate innovative technology verification report (ITVR) will be prepared for each device. The ITVRs will present the demonstration findings associated with the demonstration objectives.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
EPA Geospatial Quality Council Strategy Plan Fy-02 |
08/20/2001
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Brilis, G. M. AND B. Chem. EPA Geospatial Quality Council Strategy Plan Fy-02. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/063 (NTIS PB2001-108483), 2001.
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The EPA Geospatial Quality Council (GQC), previously known as the EPA GIS-QA Team - EPA/600/R-00/009, was created to fill the gap between the EPA Quality Assurance (QA) and Geospatial communities. All EPA Offices and Regions were invited to participate. Currently, the EPA Geospatial Quality Council consists of members from the EPA Regional Offices; the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA); the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS); the Office of Water (OW); the new Office of Environmental Information (OEI); and the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The GQC was established by the Environmental Sciences Division of ORD's National Exposure Research Laboratory, but operates independent of any EPA Region or Program Office.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Verification Report, Tnt Detection Technology, Texas Instruments, Spreeta Tm Sensor |
09/19/2001
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Verification Report, Tnt Detection Technology, Texas Instruments, Spreeta Tm Sensor. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/064 (NTIS PB2002-100441), 2001.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created the Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV) to facilitate the deployment of innovative or improved environmental technologies through performance verification and dissemination of information. The goal of the ETV Program is to further environmental protection by substantially accelerating the acceptance and use of improved and cost-effective technologies. ETV seeks to achieve this goal by providing high quality, peer- reviewed data on technology performance to those involved in the design, distribution, financing, permitting, purchase, and use of environmental technologies.
ETV works in partnership with recognized standards and testing organizations and stakeholder groups consisting of regulators, buyers, and vendor organizations, with the full participation of individual technology developers. The program evaluates the performance of innovative technologies by developing test plans that are responsive to the needs of stakeholders, conducting field or laboratory tests (as appropriate), collecting and analyzing data, and preparing peer-reviewed reports. All evaluations are conducted in accordance with rigorous quality assurance protocols to ensure that data of known and adequate quality are generated and that the results are defensible.
The Department of Defense (DoD) has a similar verification program known as the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). The purpose of ESTCP is to demonstrate and validate the most promising innovative technologies that target DoD's most urgent environmental needs and are projected to pay back the investment within 5 years through cost savings and improved efficiencies. ESTCP demonstrations are typically conducted under operational field conditions at DoD facilities. The demonstrations are intended to generate supporting cost and performance data for acceptance or validation of the technology. The goal is to transition mature environmental science and technology projects through the demonstration/validation phase, enabling promising technologies to receive regulatory and end user acceptance in order to be field tested and commercialized more rapidly.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Environmental Technology Verification Report, Explosives Detection Technology, Sri Instruments, Model 8610c, Gas Chromatograph/Thermionic Ionization Detection |
09/19/2001
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Dindal, A. B., C. K. Bayne, R. A. Jenkins, AND E. N. Koglin. Environmental Technology Verification Report, Explosives Detection Technology, Sri Instruments, Model 8610c, Gas Chromatograph/Thermionic Ionization Detection. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/065 (NTIS PB2002-100443), 2001.
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The SRI Model 86 1 OC gas chromatograph (GC) is a transportable instrument that can provide on-site analysis of soils for explosives. Coupling this transportable gas chromatograph with a thermionic ionization detector (TID) allows for the determination of explosives in soil matrices following simple sample reparation procedures. Samples are extracted in acetone, diluted, and injected directly onto the GC column within a heated injection port. The high temperature of the injection port instantaneously vaporizes the solvent extract and explosives, allowing them to travel as a vapor through the GC column in the presence of the nitrogen carrier gas. The stationary phase of the GC column and the programmable oven temperature separate the components present in sample extracts based on their relative affinities and vapor pressures. Upon elution from the column's end, compounds containing nitro groups are ionized on the surface of the thermionic bead, and the increased conductivity of atmosphere within the heated detector is measured with a collector electrode. In this verification test, the instrument was verified for its ability to detect and quantify 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT), RDX, and TNT. Analytical run times were typically less than 7 min and reporting limits were typically 0.5 mg/kg.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Maryland Agriculture and Your Watershed |
08/24/2001
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Kutz, F. W., R. Garibay, D. Bottimore, T. Prettyman, AND S. Orochena. Maryland Agriculture and Your Watershed. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/903/R-00/009 (NTIS PB2002-101257), 2001.
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Using primarily 1995 State of Maryland agricultural statistics data, a new methodology was demonstrated with which State natural resource managers can analyze the areal extent of agricultural lands and production data on a watershed basis. The report organized major crop and livestock data onto the 19 United States Geological Survey hydrologic unit code 8-digit watersheds in Mary- land. Organizing the data according to watersheds provides a different perspective on agricultural production, because it helps to understand the potential impacts within each Maryland watershed and potentially on a regional basis when watershed boundaries overlap state lines. Data on the overall extent of crop and livestock activity within each watershed are presented in order to provide a clearer understanding of each watershed's agricultural intensity. Also information on fertilizer and pesticide use is provided to illustrate the context of issues surrounding environmental concerns and water quality. In addition, a discussion is presented on the programs and management practices being implemented in Maryland to reduce the impacts of agricultural production on the environment.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Savannah River Basin Landscape Analysis |
09/26/2001
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Chaloud, D. J., C. M. Edmonds, AND D. T. Heggem. Savannah River Basin Landscape Analysis. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/069 (NTIS PB2002-102155), 2001.
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Scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 4, Science and Ecosystem Support Division, enlisted the assistance of the landscape ecology group of U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development (ORD), National Exposure Research Laboratory, Environmental Sciences Division (ESD), in conducting a landscape assessment of the Savannah River Basin as part of their ongoing Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (REMAP) demonstration project In the Scope of Work provided by Region 4, the goal was stated as "provide technical/scientific questions. These were Are both the proportions of land uses and the spatial pattern of land uses important for characterizing and modeling stream condition in watersheds/ecoregions of different areas? Does the size of the watershed/ecoregion influence statistical relationships between landscape characteristics and ecological condition? In addition,, an assessment of landscape change was to be conducted as part of continuing ESD research in application of change detection techniques. The data analysis plan developed to address the objectives given above called for calculation of a specific suite of landscape metrics for all nine United States Geological Survey (USGS) 8-digit hydrological unit codes (HUC; USGS, 1982), a selected subset of the 94 Georgia and South Carolina subbasins, and the riparian corridors in the HUCs and selected subbasins. The subbasins, shown in Figure 1, are generally equivalent in area to USGS I 1 -digit HUCS.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Guidance for Statistical Determination of Appropriate Percent Minority and Percent Poverty Distributional Cutoff Values Using Census Data for and EPA Region II Environmental Justice Project |
11/15/2001
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Nash, M. S., G. T. Flatman, D. W. Ebert, AND C. L. Cross. Guidance for Statistical Determination of Appropriate Percent Minority and Percent Poverty Distributional Cutoff Values Using Census Data for and EPA Region II Environmental Justice Project. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/078 (NTIS PB2002-101193), 2001.
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The purpose of this report is to assist Region H by providing a statistical analysis identifying the areas with minority and below poverty populations known as "Community of Concern" (COC). The aim was to find a cutoff value as a threshold to identify a COC using demographic data. Other consultants were also involved to provide similar information. Region 11 presented our method for the Senior Mangers on June 2000, as a comparison with another two other methods: cluster-based cutoff and state averages. A decision was made to use the cluster. based cutoff and state average because they were easier to understand and to use at the
community level. Although our method was not the preferred one, there was a significant
amount of time and effort put forth by the authors to develop the methodology, and we feel the
technique is a valid one with possible future uses.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Sitelab Corporation Sitelab Analytical Test Kit Uvf-3100a |
11/26/2001
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Billets, S. N., K. Topudurti, AND S. Anagnostopoulos. Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Sitelab Corporation Sitelab Analytical Test Kit Uvf-3100a. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/080 (NTIS PB2002-101512), 2001.
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site LAB(& Analytical Test Kit UVF-3 I OOA (UVF-3 I OOA) developed by siteLABqD Corporation (siteLABa)) was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the Navy Base Ventura County site in Port Hueneme, California. The purpose of the demonstration was to collect reliable performance and cost data for the UVF-3 I OOA and six other field measurement devices for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil. In addition to assessing ease of device operation, the key objectives of the demonstration included determining the (1) method detection limit, (2) accuracy and precision, (3) effects of interferents and soil moisture content on TPH measurement, (4) sample throughput, and (5) TPH measurement costs for each device. The demonstration involved analysis of both performance evaluation samples and environmental samples collected in five areas contaminated with gasoline, diesel, lubricating oil, or other petroleum products. The performance and cost results for a given field measurement device were compared to those for an off-site laboratory reference method, "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste" (SW-846) Method 8015B (modified). During the demonstration, siteLAB& required 37 hours, 20 minutes, for TPH measurement of 199 samples and 13 extract duplicates. The TPH measurement costs were estimated to be $7,090 for siteLA.Be's UVF-3 I OOA rental option; $7,720 for the UVF-3 I OOA on-site testing support service option; and $17,670 for the UVF-310OA purchase option compared to $42,500 for the reference method. The method detection limits were determined to be 3.4 and 6.32 milligrams per kilogram for the UVF-3100A and reference method, respectively. During the demonstration, the UVF-3100A exhibited good accuracy and precision, ease of use, and lack of sensitivity to interferents that are not petroleum hydrocarbons (neat materials, including tetrachloroethene; turpentine; and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene and soil spiked with humic acid). However, the device showed less than 5 percent response to neat materials (methyl-tert-butyl ether and Stoddard solvent) that are petroleum hydrocarbons. In addition, it exhibited minor sensitivity to soil moisture content during TPH measurement of weathered gasoline soil samples. Despite some of the limitations observed during the demonstration, the demonstration findings collectively indicated that the UVF-3100A is a reliable field measurement device for TPH in soil.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Parametric and Non Parametric (Mars: Multivariate Additive Regression Splines) Logistic Regressions for Prediction of a Dichotomous Response Variable With An Example for Presence/Absence of Amphibians |
12/07/2001
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Nash, M. S. AND D. F. Bradford. Parametric and Non Parametric (Mars: Multivariate Additive Regression Splines) Logistic Regressions for Prediction of a Dichotomous Response Variable With An Example for Presence/Absence of Amphibians. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/081 (NTIS PB2002-102297), 2001.
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The purpose of this report is to provide a reference manual that could be used by investigators for making informed use of logistic regression using two methods (standard logistic regression and MARS). The details for analyses of relationships between a dependent binary response variable (e.g., presence/absence) and a set of independent variables are provided step by step for use by scientists who are not statisticians. Details of such statistical analyses and their assumptions are often omitted from published literature, yet such details are essential to the proper conduct of statistical analyses and interpretation of results. In this report, we use a data set for amphibian presence/absence and associated habitat variables as an example.
Relationships between a response variable and independent variable(s) are commonly quantified and described by regression models. The values of the coefficients and predictions from the fitted model are used to infer and describe patterns of relationships, the effect of the independent variables on the response, and the strength of association between the independent and response variable. All these will help to analyze and understand a phenomena, in this case biological phenomena. The general linear model (GLM) offers a wide range of regression models where the simple regression, analyses of covariance, and ANOVA are special cases. In GLM, the functional relationships between the expected value of the response variable(s) and the independent variables are described via a link function as:
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Chemetrics, Inc., and Azur Environmental Ltd Remediaid Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Starter Kit |
11/26/2001
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Billets, S. N., K. Topudurti, AND T. Denhof. Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Chemetrics, Inc., and Azur Environmental Ltd Remediaid Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Starter Kit. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/082 (NTIS PB2002-101357), 2001.
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The RemediAidTm Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Starter Kit (RemediAidTm kit) developed by CHEMetries, Inc. (CHEMetrics), and AZUR Environmental Ltd was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the Navy Base Ventura County site in Port Hueneme, California. The purpose of the demonstration was to collect reliable performance and cost data for the RemediAid Tm kit and six other field measurement devices for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil. In addition to assessing ease of device operation, the key objectives of the demonstration included determining the (1) method detection limit, (2) accuracy and precision, (3) effects of interferents and soil moisture content on TPH measurement, (4) sample throughput, and (5) TPH measurement costs for each device. The demonstration involved analysis of both performance evaluation samples and environmental samples collected in five areas contaminated with gasoline, diesel, lubricating oil, or other petroleum products. The performance and cost results for a given field measurement device were compared to those for an off-site laboratory reference method, "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste" (SW-846) Method 801 SB (modified). During the demonstration, CHEMetries required 46 hours, 10 minutes, for TPH measurement of 199 samples and 10 extract duplicates. The TPH measurement costs for these samples were estimated to be $8,5 1 0 for the RemediAidTm kit and $42,170 for the reference method. The method detection limits were determined to be 60 and 4.79 milligrams per kilogram for the RemediAidTm kit and reference method, respectively. During the demonstration, the RemediAidTm kit exhibited good accuracy and precision, ease of use, and lack of sensitivity to interferents that are not petroleum hydrocarbons (neat materials, including tetrachloroethene and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene). However, the device showed less than 5 percent response to neat materials, including methyl-tert-butyl ether and Stoddard solvent, that are petroleum hydrocarbons. Turpentine and humic acid, which are not petroleum hydrocarbons, caused a significant measurement bias for the device. In addition, the device exhibited minor sensitivity to soil moisture content during TPH measurement of weathered gasoline soil samples. Despite some of the limitations observed during the demonstration, the demonstration findings collectively indicated that the RemediAidTm kit is a reliable field measurement device for TPH in soil.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Environmental Systems Corporation Synchronous Scanning Luminoscope |
11/26/2001
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Billets, S. N., K. Topudurti, AND S. Anagonstropoulos. Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Environmental Systems Corporation Synchronous Scanning Luminoscope. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/083 (NTIS PB2002-101358), 2001.
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The Synchronous Scanning Luminoscope (Luminoscope) developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in collaboration with Environmental Systems Corporation (ESC) was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the Navy Base Ventura County site in Port Hueneme, California. The purpose of the demonstration was to collect reliable performance and cost data for the Luminoscope and six other field measurement devices for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil. In addition to assessing ease of device operation, the key objectives of the demonstration included determining the (1) method detection limit, (2) accuracy and precision, (3) effects of interferents and soil moisture content on TPH measurement, (4) sample throughput, and (5) TPH measurement costs for each device. The demonstration involved analysis of both performance evaluation samples and environmental samples collected in five areas contaminated with gasoline, diesel, lubricating oil, or other petroleum products. The performance and cost results for a given field measurement device were compared to those for an off-site laboratory reference method, "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste" (SW-846) Method 8015B (modified). During the demonstration, ESC required 67 hours, 30 minutes, for TPH measurement of 199 samples and 12 extract duplicates. The TPH measurement costs for these samples were estimated to be $7,460 for ESC's on-site sample analysis service option using the Luminoscope and $34,950 for the Luminoscope purchase option compared to $42,430 for the reference method. The method detection limits were determined to be 36 and 6.32 milligrams per kilogram for the Luminoscope and reference method, respectively. During the demonstration, the Luminoscope exhibited good precision and lack of sensitivity to moisture content and to interferents that are not petroleum hydrocarbons (tetrachloroethene; turpentine; and 1,2,4- trichlorobenzene). However, the Luminoscope TPH results did not compare well with those of the reference method, indicating that the user should exercise caution when considering the device for a specific field TPH measurement application. In addition, field observations indicated that operation of the device may prove challenging unless the operator has significant analytical chemistry skills and device-specific training.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Strategic Diagnostics Inc. Ensys Petro Test System |
11/26/2001
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Billets, S. N., K. Topudurti, AND E. Monshein. Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Strategic Diagnostics Inc. Ensys Petro Test System. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/084 (NTIS PB2002-101360), 2001.
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The EnSys Petro Test System developed by Strategic Diagnostics Inc. (SDI), was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the Navy Base Ventura County site in Port Hueneme, California. The purpose of the demonstration was to collect reliable performance and cost data for the EnSys Petro Test System and six other field measurement devices for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil. In addition to assessing ease of device operation, the key objectives of the demonstration included determining the (1) method detection limit, (2) accuracy and precision, (3) effects of interferents and soil moisture content on TPH measurement, (4) sample throughput, and (5) TPH measurement costs for each device. The demonstration involved analysis of both performance evaluation samples and environmental samples collected in four areas contaminated with gasoline, diesel, or other petroleum products. The performance and cost results for a given field measurement device were compared to those for an off-site laboratory reference method, "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste" (SW-846)Method8Ol5B(modified). During the demonstration,SDirequired39hours,35minutes, for TPH measurement of 191 samples and 12 extract duplicates. The TPH measurement costs for these samples were estimated to be $10,2 1 0 for the EnSys Petro Test System compared to $41,290 for the reference method. The method detection limit for the reference method was determined to be 6.32 milligrams per kilogram; a method detection limit could not be determined for the EnSys Petro Test System because it is a semiquantitative device. During the demonstration, the device exhibited good precision and lack of sensitivity to soil spiked with humic acid. The device showed a mean response of at least 24 percent for interferents that are not petroleum hydrocarbons (neat materials, including tetrachloroethene; turpentine; and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene). A significant number of the EnSys Petro Test System TPH results were determined to be inconclusive because the detection levels used by SDI were not appropriate to address the demonstration objectives. Overall, the device's results did not compare well with those of the reference method; in general, the device exhibited a high positive bias. Collectively, the demonstration findings indicated that the user should exercise caution when considering the device for a site-specific field TPH measurement application.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Wilks Enterprise, Inc. Infracal Tog/Tph Analyzer |
11/26/2001
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Billets, S. N., K. Topudurti, AND S. Tay. Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Wilks Enterprise, Inc. Infracal Tog/Tph Analyzer. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/088 (NTIS PB2002-101361), 2001.
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The hifracal' TOG/TPH Analyzer developed by Wilks Enterprise, Inc. (Wilks), was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the Navy Base Ventura County site in Port Hueneme, California. The purpose of the demonstration was to collect reliable performance and cost data for the Infracal' TOG/TPH Analyzer and six other field measurement devices for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil. In addition to assessing ease of device operation, the key objectives of the demonstration included determining the (1) method detection limit, (2) accuracy and precision, (3) effects of interferents and soil moisture content on TPH measurement, (4) sample throughput, and (5) TPH measurement costs for each device. The demonstration involved analysis of both performance evaluation (PE) samples and environmental samples collected in five areas contaminated with gasoline, diesel, lubricating oil, or other petroleum products. The performance and cost results for a given field measurement device were compared to those for an off-site laboratory reference method, "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste" (SW-846) Method 8015B (modified). During the demonstration, Wilks required 3 5 hours, 3 0 minutes, for TPH measurement of 215 samples. The TPH measurement costs for these samples were estimated to be $6,450 for the lnfracal' TOG/TPH Analyzer compared to $44,41 0 for the reference method. The method detection limits were determined to be 76 and 4.79 milligrams per kilogram for the device and reference method, respectively. During the demonstration, the device exhibited sensitivity to interferents that are petroleum hydrocarbons (methyl-tert-butyl ether and Stoddard solvent) and lack of sensitivity to interferents that are not petroleum hydrocarbons (tetrachloroethene; 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene; and humic acid). The device exhibited good precision for soil and liquid PE samples but not for environmental samples. The device TTH results (1) did not compare well with the reference method results and (2) were significantly impacted by soil moisture content (for diesel soil PE samples) and by turpentine, an interferent that is not a petroleum hydrocarbon. In addition, some of the items used during the sample preparation procedure made the TPH measurement procedure less simple and more time-consuming during the demonstration. Collectively, these demonstration findings indicated that the Infracal TOG/TTH Analyzer may be considered for TPH screening purposes; however, the user should exercise caution when considering the device for a field TPH measurement application requiring definitive results.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Horiba Instruments Incorporated Ocma-350 Content Analyzer |
11/26/2001
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Billets, S. N., K. Topudurti, AND S. Tay. Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Horiba Instruments Incorporated Ocma-350 Content Analyzer. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/089 (NTIS PB2002-101359), 2001.
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The OCMA-350 Oil Content Analyzer(OCMA-350) developed by Horiba Instruments Incorporated (Horiba), was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the Navy Base Ventura County site in Port Hueneme, California. The purpose of the demonstration was to collect reliable performance and cost data for the OCNIA-350 and six other field measurement devices for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil. In addition to assessing ease of device operation, the key objectives of the demonstration included determining the (1) method detection limit, (2) accuracy and precision, (3) effects of interferents and soil moisture content on TPH measurement, (4) sample throughput, and (5) TPH measurement costs for each device. The demonstration involved analysis of both performance evaluation samples and environmental samples collected in five areas contaminated with gasoline, diesel, lubricating oil, or other petroleum products. The performance and cost results for a given field measurement device were compared to those for an off-site laboratory reference method, "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste" (SW-846) Method 8015B (modified). During the demonstration, Horiba required 46 hours, 15 minutes, for TPH measurement of 199 samples and 9 extract duplicates. The TPH measurement costs for these samples were estimated to be $15,750 for the OCMA-350 compared to $42,050 for the reference method. The method detection limits were determined to be 15.2 and 4.79 milligrams per kilogram for the OCMA-350 and reference method, respectively. During the demonstration, the OCMA-350 exhibited good precision and sensitivity to interferents that are petroleum hydrocarbons (methyl-tert-butyl ether and Stoddard solvent). However, the OCNIA-350 TPH results (1) did not compare well with the reference method results for the performance evaluation samples and (2) were significantly impacted by soil moisture content and by turpentine, an interferent that is not a petroleum hydrocarbon. In addition, some of the items in the OCMA-350 made the TPH measurement procedure less simple and more time- consuming during the demonstration. Collectively, the demonstration findings indicated that the OCN4A-350 may be considered for TPH screening purposes; however, the user should exercise caution when considering the device for a field TPH measurement application requiring definitive results.
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| PUBLISHED REPORT |
Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Dexsil Corporation Petroflag System |
11/26/2001
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Billets, S. N., K. Topudurti, AND E. Monschein. Innovative Technology Verification Report "FIELD Measurement Technologies for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil" Dexsil Corporation Petroflag System. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-01/092 (NTIS PB2002-101513), 2001.
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The PetroFLAGTm System developed by Dexsilo Corporation (Dexsil) was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the Navy Base Ventura County site in Port Hueneme, California. The purpose of the demonstration was to collect reliable performance and cost data for the PetroFLAGTm System and six other field measurement devices for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soil. In addition to assessing ease of device operation, the key objectives of the demonstration included determining the (1) method detection limit, (2) accuracy and precision, (3) effects of interferents and soil moisture content on TPH measurement, (4) sample throughput, and (5) TPH measurement costs for each device. The demonstration involved analysis of both performance evaluation (PE) samples and environmental samples collected in four areas contaminated with gasoline, diesel, or other petroleum products. The performance and cost results for a given field measurement device were compared to those for an off-site laboratory reference method, "Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste" (SW-846) Method 8015B (modified). During the demonstration, Dexsil required 50 hours, 40 minutes, for TPH measurement of 181 samples and I 0 extract duplicates. The TPH measurement costs for these samples were estimated to be $6,390 for the PetroFLAGTM System compared to $38,560 for the reference method. The method detection limits were determined to be 20 and 6.32 milligrams per kilogram for the PetroFLAGTm System and reference method, respectively. During the demonstration, the PetroFLAGTm System exhibited good precision and ease of use. The device's mean responses for interferents that are considered to be petroleum hydrocarbons were mixed (O and 42.5 percent for neat methyl-tert-butyl ether and Stoddard solvent, respectively). The device's mean responses for interferents that are not considered to be petroleum hydrocarbons were also mixed (1.5, 103, and 16 percent for neat tetrachloroethene; turpentine; and 1,2,4- trichlorobenzene, respectively, and 2.5 percent for soil spiked with humic acid). In addition, an increase in soil moisture content biased the device's TPH results low for weathered gasoline soil PE samples. Based on action level conclusions and statistical correlations, the PetroFLAGTm System TPH results compared well with those of the reference method; however, the device exhibited a high bias, and its TPH results were determined to be statistically different from those of the reference method. Collectively, the demonstration findings indicated that the user should exercise caution when considering the device for a specific field TPH measurement application.
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